Clause 30

Despite any written law or rule of law relating to the winding up of companies, in the event of the winding up of a bank in Singapore, a liquidator must first set‑off a depositor’s liabilities to the bank against any deposit of the depositor placed with the bank that is accepted —

in Singapore dollars; or

on terms under which the deposit may be repaid by the bank in Singapore dollars.(2) In this section, “deposit” means —

a sum of money paid on terms —

under which it will be repaid, with or without interest or a premium, or with any consideration in money or money’s worth, either on demand or at a time or in circumstances agreed by or on behalf of the person making the payment and the person receiving it; and

which are not referable to the provision of property or services or to the giving of security; and

any other prescribed product.Priority of specified liabilities for merchant banks62B.—

Where a merchant bank becomes unable to meet its obligations, becomes insolvent or suspends payment, the assets of that merchant bank in Singapore are available to meet all liabilities in Singapore of the merchant bank specified in subsection (3).(2) The liabilities in Singapore of the merchant bank specified in subsection (3) have priority over all unsecured liabilities of the merchant bank other than preferential debts specified in section 328(1) of the Companies Act.(3) Despite the provisions of any written law or rule of law relating to the winding up of companies, in the event of the winding up of a merchant bank, the following liabilities in Singapore of the merchant bank rank in the following order of priority:

firstly, any deposit liabilities incurred by the merchant bank with non‑bank customers;

secondly, any sum claimed by the trustee of a resolution fund (within the meaning of section 98 of the Monetary Authority of Singapore Act) from the merchant bank under section 103, 104, 105 or 106 of that Act.(4) The liabilities in each paragraph specified in subsection (3) —

rank in the order specified in that subsection, but as between all liabilities that fall within the same paragraph of that subsection, such liabilities rank equally between themselves; and

must be paid in full unless the assets of the merchant bank in Singapore are insufficient to meet them in which case the liabilities abate in equal proportions between themselves.(5) For the purposes of this section, “deposit liabilities” has the meaning given in section 62(3) and (4) with each reference to a bank substituted with a merchant bank.(6) To avoid doubt, any liability of a merchant bank excluded from the definition of “deposit liabilities” in section 62(3) and (4) as applied by subsection (5) ranks pari passu with all other unsecured liabilities of the merchant bank.”.