Exchange Control Act 1953

This Act is the Exchange Control Act 1953.

This Act shall continue in force for a period of one year from the date of the coming into force thereof.

The Minister may, from time to time, by notification in the Gazette, extend the period of one year mentioned in subsection (2) for such further period or periods as he may think fit.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“authorised dealer”, in relation to gold or any foreign currency, means a person for the time being authorised by an order of the Authority to act for the purposes of this Act as an authorised dealer in relation to gold, or, as the case may be, that foreign currency;

“Authority” means the Monetary Authority of Singapore established under section 3 of the Monetary Authority of Singapore Act 1970;

“authorised depositary” means a person for the time being authorised by an order of the Authority to act as an authorised depositary for the purposes of Part 4;

“bank” or “banker” insofar as it relates to a bank or banker in Singapore means any bank licensed under any written law for the time being in force relating to banks;

“bearer certificate” means a certificate of title to securities by the delivery of which (with or without endorsement) the title to the securities is transferable;

“certificate of title to securities” means any document of title whereby a person recognises the title of another to securities issued or to be issued by the firstmentioned person, and in the case of any such document with coupons (whether attached or on separate coupon sheets) includes any coupons which have not been detached;

“coupon” means a coupon representing dividends or interest on a security;

“foreign currency” does not include local currency or any currency or notes issued under the law of any part of the scheduled territories but, save as aforesaid, includes any currency and any notes of a class which are or have at any time been legal tender in any territory outside Singapore, and any reference to foreign currency, except so far as the context otherwise requires, includes a reference to any right to receive foreign currency in respect of any credit or balance at a bank;

“gold” means gold coin and bullion and includes any gold in whatever state or form other than gold which has been materially increased in value by skilled craftsmanship;

“local currency” means currency which is, or has at any time been, legal tender in Singapore but does not include any currency issued by, or under the authority of, the Japanese military authorities;

“offence” means an offence under this Act and includes any contravention of or failure to comply with any order, direction, prohibition, restriction, condition or requirement made, given or imposed under powers conferred by this Act;

“policy of assurance” means any policy securing the payment of a capital sum or annuity on the occurrence of a specified event which is certain to happen and includes —

“prescribed” means prescribed, for the purposes of the provision in question, by order of the Authority;

“scheduled territories” means the territories specified in the First Schedule, except that the Authority may at any time by order amend that Schedule, either by the addition or exclusion of territories or otherwise;

“secondary securities” has the meaning assigned to it by section 21;

“securities” means shares, stocks, bonds, notes (other than promissory notes), debentures, debenture stocks, units under a unit trust scheme and shares in an oil royalty;

“specified currency” has the meaning assigned to it by section 4 as extended by section 6;

“unit trust scheme” means any arrangements made for the purpose, or having the effect, of providing for persons having funds available for investment, facilities for the participation by them, as beneficiaries under a trust, in profits or income arising from the acquisition, holding, management or disposal of any property whatsoever;

“unit” means, in relation to a unit trust scheme, a right or interest (whether described as a unit, as a sub‑unit or otherwise) which may be acquired under the scheme.

Any provision of this Act, the effect of which is to prohibit the doing of any act where a person to or by whom the act is to be done or who stands in a specified relation to any property possesses any specified attribute as to residence or otherwise, shall, where the act is done to or by 2 or more persons or, as the case may be, where 2 or more persons stand jointly in that relation to the property, operate to prohibit the doing of that act if any of those persons possess that attribute.

Any provision of this Act imposing an obligation on any person to do an act if he possesses any specified attribute as to residence or otherwise shall, in relation to any act which can only be done by 2 or more persons jointly —

Any power conferred by this Act to prescribe the declarations which are to be furnished on any occasion shall include a power to require that the declaration shall be made by specified persons and shall be verified in a specified manner.

Nothing in this Act shall be construed as requiring the Authority to pay any sum otherwise than in local currency or otherwise than in Singapore.

Any provision of this Act requiring the Authority to pay any sum to any person shall, where that sum is in a specified currency, be construed as a provision that the Authority shall pay to that person the amount in local currency which he would have received for the specified currency if he had sold it to an authorised dealer in pursuance of an offer made under section 4 at the time when that sum is paid.

The obligations and prohibitions imposed by this Act shall, subject to the express limitations contained therein, apply to all persons notwithstanding that they are not in Singapore and are not citizens of Singapore.

Except with the permission of the Authority, no person, other than an authorised dealer, shall in Singapore buy or borrow any gold or foreign currency from, or sell or lend any gold or foreign currency to, any person other than an authorised dealer.

Except with the permission of the Authority, no person resident in the scheduled territories, other than an authorised dealer, shall in Singapore do any act which involves, is in association with or is preparatory to buying or borrowing any gold or foreign currency from, or selling or lending any gold or foreign currency to, any person outside Singapore.

Where a person buys or borrows any gold or foreign currency in Singapore or, being a person resident in the scheduled territories, does any act which involves, is in association with or is preparatory to the buying or borrowing of gold or foreign currency outside Singapore, he shall comply with such conditions as to the use to which it may be put or the period for which it may be retained as may from time to time be notified to him by the Authority.

Every person in Singapore who is entitled to sell, or to procure the sale of, any gold, or any foreign currency to which this section applies, and is not an authorised dealer, shall offer it, or cause it to be offered, for sale to an authorised dealer, unless the Authority consents to his retention and use thereof or he disposes thereof to any other person with the permission of the Authority.

The foreign currency to which this section applies is such foreign currency (referred to in this Act as specified currency) as may from time to time be specified by order of the Authority.

If a person who has obtained the consent of the Authority to his retention and use of any gold or specified currency, and has stated in an application for the consent that he requires it for a particular purpose, no longer requires the gold or currency for that purpose, subsection (1) shall thereupon apply to him in relation to that gold or currency as if the Authority had revoked its consent to his retention and use thereof.

A person who acquires any gold or specified currency from an authorised dealer shall be treated for the purposes of this section as if —

Where a person has become bound under this section to offer or cause to be offered any gold or specified currency for sale to an authorised dealer, he shall not be deemed to comply with that obligation by any offer made or caused to be made by him, if the offer is an offer to sell at a price exceeding that authorised by the Authority, or without payment of any usual and proper charges of the authorised dealer, or otherwise on any unusual terms.

Where a person has become bound under this section to offer or cause to be offered any gold or specified currency for sale to an authorised dealer and has not complied with that obligation, the Authority may direct that that gold or currency shall vest in the Authority, and it shall vest in the Authority accordingly free from any mortgage, pledge or charge.

The Authority may deal with any gold or specified currency vested in the Authority under subsection (6) as it thinks fit, but the Authority shall pay to the person who would but for the direction be entitled to the gold or currency such sum as he would have received therefor if he had sold it to an authorised dealer in pursuance of an offer made under this section at the time when the vesting occurred.

In any proceedings in respect of a failure to comply with this section, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is shown, that the gold or currency in question has not been offered for sale to an authorised dealer.

Every person in Singapore by whom or to whose order (whether directly or indirectly) any gold or any specified currency in the form of notes is held in Singapore but who is not entitled to sell it or procure its sale shall notify the Authority in writing that he so holds that gold or currency.

The Authority may direct any person in Singapore by whom or to whose order (whether directly or indirectly) any gold or any specified currency in the form of notes is held in Singapore, whether or not he is entitled to sell it or procure its sale, to cause that gold or currency to be kept at all times in the custody of such banker as may be specified in the direction.

This section shall apply to any document of a kind intended to enable the person to whom the document is issued to obtain foreign currency from some other person on the credit of the person issuing it, and in particular to any traveller’s cheque or other draft or letter of credit so intended.

For the purposes of this Act, the person issuing a document to which this section applies, and the person to whom it is issued, shall be deemed respectively to sell and buy foreign currency, and where foreign currency is obtained by means of the document, to sell and buy that foreign currency.

Any such document not expressed in terms of sterling or local currency shall, if it is of a kind intended to enable the person to whom it is issued to obtain any specified currency, be treated also for the purposes of this Act as itself being a specified currency.

Every person in Singapore who holds or to whose order there is held any document to which this section applies, being a document expressed in terms of sterling or local currency, shall encash it or cause it to be encashed in the scheduled territories with the person issuing it or with a banker, unless the Authority consents to his retention and use thereof and, where in his application for that consent he has stated that he requires it for a particular purpose, unless also he still requires it for that purpose.

A person who acquires any document to which subsection (4) applies from an authorised dealer shall be treated for the purposes of that subsection as if —

Except with the permission of the Authority, no person shall do any of the following things in Singapore:

Where a person resident outside the scheduled territories has paid a sum in or towards the satisfaction of a debt due from him, subsection (1)(c) shall not prohibit the acknowledgement or recording of the payment.

Except with the permission of the Authority, no person shall in Singapore do any act which involves, is in association with or is preparatory to the making of any payment outside Singapore, to or for the credit of a person resident outside the scheduled territories.

Nothing in this section shall prohibit the doing of anything otherwise lawful by any person with any foreign currency obtained by him in accordance with the provisions of Part 2 or retained by him in pursuance of a consent of the Authority.

Except with the permission of the Authority, no person shall in Singapore make any payment to or for the credit of a person resident in the scheduled territories, or do any act which involves, is in association with or is preparatory to the making of any such payment outside Singapore, as consideration for or in association with —

Nothing in this section shall prohibit the making of any payment in accordance with the terms of a permission or consent granted under this Act.

Except with the permission of the Authority, no person shall in Singapore issue any security or do any act which involves, is in association with or is preparatory to the issuing outside Singapore of any security which is registered or to be registered in Singapore, unless the following requirements are fulfilled:

The subscription of the memorandum of association of a company to be formed under the Companies Act 1967 by a person resident outside the scheduled territories, or by a nominee for another person so resident, shall, unless he subscribes the memorandum with the permission of the Authority, be invalid insofar as it would on registration of the memorandum have the effect of making him a member of or shareholder in the company.

Subsection (2) shall not render invalid the incorporation of the company referred to in that subsection.

If by virtue of subsection (2) the number of the subscribers of the memorandum who on its registration become members of the company is less than the minimum number required to subscribe to the memorandum, the provisions of that Act relating to the carrying on of business of a company the number of whose members is reduced below the legal minimum shall apply to the company as if the number of its members had been so reduced.

Except with the permission of the Authority, a security registered in Singapore shall not be transferred, and a security not so registered shall not be transferred in Singapore, unless, in either case, the following requirements are fulfilled:

Notwithstanding subsection (1) —

Except with the permission of the Authority, a security not registered in Singapore shall not be transferred outside Singapore if either the transferor or the transferee, or the person, if any, for whom the transferor or transferee is or is to be a nominee, is resident in Singapore.

Except with the permission of the Authority —

Except with the permission of the Authority, no person shall in Singapore, issue any bearer certificate or coupon or so alter any document that it becomes a bearer certificate or coupon.

No person resident in the scheduled territories shall in Singapore do any act which involves, is in association with or is preparatory to, such issue or alteration outside Singapore.

Where —

Except with the permission of the Authority, a person resident in Singapore for whom the holder of a security is a nominee shall not do any act whereby —

Where the holder of a security is a nominee, then, except with the permission of the Authority, neither he, if he is resident in Singapore, nor any person resident in Singapore through whose agency the exercise of all or any of the holder’s rights in respect of the security are controlled, shall —

Where the holder of a security is not a nominee and is resident in Singapore, then, except with the permission of the Authority, he shall not do any act whereby he becomes the nominee of another person in respect of the security, unless that other person is resident in the scheduled territories and not elsewhere.

No person resident in the scheduled territories shall in Singapore do any act which involves, is in association with or is preparatory to any such transaction outside Singapore as is referred to in this section.

This section and section 18 shall apply to any security except —

It shall be the duty of every person by whom or to whose order (whether directly or indirectly) a certificate of title is held in Singapore, and of every person resident in Singapore by whom or to whose order (whether directly or indirectly) a certificate of title is held outside Singapore, to cause the certificate of title to be kept at all times, except with the permission of the Authority, in the custody of an authorised depositary.

Nothing in this Part shall prohibit the doing of anything for the purpose of complying with the requirements of subsection (2).

Except with the permission of the Authority, an authorised depositary shall not part with any certificate of title or coupon required under this section to be in the custody of an authorised depositary.

Subsection (4) shall not prohibit an authorised depositary —

Except with the permission of the Authority, no capital moneys, interest or dividends shall be paid in Singapore on any security except to or to the order of an authorised depositary having the custody of the certificate of title to that security.

Subsection (6) shall not be taken as restricting the manner in which any sums lawfully paid on account of the capital moneys, interest or dividends may be dealt with by the person receiving them.

Except with the permission of the Authority, an authorised depositary shall not do any act whereby he recognises or gives effect to the substitution of one person for another as the person from whom he receives instructions in relation to a certificate of title or coupon, unless there is produced to him the prescribed evidence that he is not by so doing giving effect to any transaction which is prohibited by this Act.

Where a certificate of title which under this section should, for the time being, be in the custody of an authorised depositary is not in the custody of an authorised depositary, then, except with the permission of the Authority, no person shall in Singapore buy, sell, transfer, or do anything which affects his rights or powers in relation to the security, or do any act which involves, is in association with or is preparatory to any such transaction outside Singapore.

Except with the permission of the Authority, no person in Singapore shall, in the case of a certificate of title with coupons (whether attached or on separate coupon sheets), detach any of the coupons otherwise than in the ordinary course for collection.

In this section and section 18 —

“certificate of title” means a certificate of title to a security;

“coupon” means a coupon representing dividends or interest on a security;

“security” means a security to which those sections apply.

Where a certificate of title to a security is by section 17 required to be and is in the custody of an authorised depositary, this section shall, except so far as the Authority otherwise directs, have effect in relation thereto until —

Where the declarations under subsection (1)(a) have been delivered to an authorised depositary and he has parted with the certificate of title, subsection (1)(a) shall not again apply on the certificate coming into the custody of another authorised depositary or again coming into his own custody.

Except with the permission of the Authority, the authorised depositary shall not part with or destroy the certificate of title or any coupons belonging thereto, otherwise than as mentioned in section 17(5)(b) and (c) or do any act whereby he recognises or gives effect to the substitution of one person for another as the person from whom he receives instructions in relation thereto.

Where the person from whom an authorised depositary receives instructions in relation to any certificate of title becomes bankrupt in Singapore or dies, subsection (3) shall not prohibit the authorised depositary from recognising the trustee in bankruptcy or personal representative as the person entitled to give instructions in relation to the certificate of title.

The authorised depositary shall place any capital moneys, dividends or interest on the security received by him to the credit of the person by virtue of whose authority he received them, but shall not permit any part of the sums received to be dealt with except with the permission of the Authority.

The Authority may, if in its opinion there are circumstances rendering it necessary or expedient to do so, by order direct that this section shall apply to such securities as may be prescribed, being securities on which capital moneys, dividends or interest are payable in a specified currency or as respects which the holder has an option to require payment of any capital moneys, dividends or interest thereon in a specified currency.

Except with the permission of the Authority, no person shall in Singapore transfer, or do anything which affects his rights or powers in relation to, any security to which this section applies.

No person resident in the scheduled territories shall in Singapore do any act which involves, is in association with or is preparatory to any such transaction outside Singapore.

The title of any person to a security for which he has given value on a transfer thereof, and the title of all persons claiming through or under him, shall, notwithstanding that the transfer, or any previous transfer, or the issue of the security, was by reason of the residence of any person concerned other than the firstmentioned person prohibited by the provisions of this Act relating to the transfer or issue of securities, be valid unless the firstmentioned person had notice of the facts by reason of which it was prohibited.

Without prejudice to subsection (1), the Authority may issue a certificate declaring, in relation to a security, that any acts done before the issue of the certificate purporting to effect the issue or transfer of the security, being acts which were prohibited by this Act, are to be, and are always to have been, as valid as if they had been done with the permission of the Authority, and the acts shall have effect accordingly.

Nothing in this section shall affect the liability of any person to prosecution for any offence under this Act.

This Part shall apply, with such modifications, if any, as may be prescribed, in relation to any such document as is mentioned in subsection (2), as if the document created, and were the certificate of title to, a security (referred to in this Act as a secondary security).

The documents referred to in subsection (1) are —

In this Part —

“register” includes any book, file or index in which securities are registered;

“registered” includes inscribed;

“registered in Singapore” and “registered outside Singapore” mean respectively registered in a register in, and registered in a register outside, Singapore;

“security which is registered in Singapore otherwise than in a subsidiary register” means a security which either —

For the purposes of any provision of this Part prohibiting the transfer of securities, a person shall be deemed to transfer a security if he executes any instrument of transfer thereof, whether effective or not, and shall be deemed to transfer it at the place where he executes the instrument.

References in this Part to the person holding a certificate of title or coupon shall be construed as references to the person having physical custody of the certificate of title or coupon.

Where the certificate of title or coupon referred to in subsection (3) is deposited with any person in a locked or sealed receptacle from which he is not entitled to remove it without the authority of some other person, that other person shall be deemed for the purposes of this Part to have the physical custody thereof.

In this Part, “holder” —

The holder of a security or coupon shall be deemed for the purposes of this Part to be a nominee in respect thereof if, as respects the exercise of any rights in respect thereof, he is not entitled to exercise those rights except in accordance with instructions given by some other person.

References in this Part to the person for whom the holder of a security or coupon is a nominee shall be construed as references to the person who is entitled to give instructions, either directly or through the agency of one or more persons, as to the exercise of any rights in respect of the security or coupon and is not in so doing himself under a duty to comply with instructions given by some other person.

A person shall not by reason only that he has a controlling interest in a body corporate be deemed for the purposes of subsection (6) to be entitled to give instructions to that body corporate as to the exercise of rights in respect of any security or coupon of which it is the holder.

A person shall not be deemed to hold a security or coupon as a nominee by reason only that he holds it as trustee if he is entitled to transfer the security or coupon without permission from any other person.

A certificate of title shall not for the purposes of this Part be treated as in the custody of an authorised depositary if either —

Where a certificate of title outside Singapore is by this Part required to be kept in the custody of an authorised depositary, it shall be deemed to be in the custody of an authorised depositary if —

Where a certificate of title is by virtue of subsection (11) deemed to be in the custody of an authorised depositary, references in this Part to the depositary parting with the certificate or a coupon belonging thereto shall be construed as references to his permitting the person having the actual custody thereof to part with it otherwise than to the depositary, and references to his destroying the certificate or such a coupon shall be construed as references to his permitting it to be destroyed.

Except with the permission of the Authority, no person shall import into Singapore —

In this section and section 24, “note” includes part of a note, “security” includes a secondary security and “coupon” shall be construed in accordance with the meaning of “security”.

Except with the permission of the Authority, no person shall export any goods of any class or description from Singapore to a destination in such territory as may be prescribed unless the Authority is satisfied —

The Authority may direct that, in cases to which the direction applies, subsection (1)(a) shall have effect as if for the reference to 6 months there were substituted a reference to such longer or shorter period as may be specified in the direction, or as if the words “or is to be so made not later than 6 months after the date of exportation” were omitted.

For the purpose of satisfying itself in the case of any goods as to the matters specified in subsections (1) and (2), the Authority may require the person making entry of the goods for export to deliver to such officer as it may authorise in that behalf together with the entry such declarations signed by such persons as it may require, and where any such declaration has been so required the goods shall not be exported until it has been so delivered.

Where the Authority is not satisfied in the case of any goods as to the matters specified in subsection (1)(b), it shall give its reasons to the person making entry of the goods for export and shall take into consideration any representations made by him.

Any reference in this section to the destination of any goods includes a reference to the ultimate destination thereof.

In this section, “making entry of the goods for export” means furnishing to the Enterprise Singapore Board established by the Enterprise Singapore Board Act 2018 any such document as may be required by regulations made under section 3(2)(b)(i) of the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act 1995 and “entry” shall be construed accordingly.

Except with the permission of the Authority, no person resident in Singapore who has a right (whether present or future and whether vested or contingent) to receive any specified currency, or to receive from a person resident outside the scheduled territories a payment in sterling or local currency, shall in Singapore do, or refrain from doing, any act with intent to secure or shall do any act which involves, is in association with or is preparatory to any transaction securing —

Nothing in subsection (1) shall, unless the Authority otherwise directs —

Where a person has contravened subsection (1) in relation to any specified currency or payment in sterling or local currency, the Authority may —

Where —

Where —

Where in any such case as is specified in subsection (1)(a), (b) or (c) or (2)(a) or (b) —

Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (3), the power conferred thereby on the Authority to give directions shall extend to the giving of directions that the goods shall be assigned to the Authority or to a person specified in the directions.

The powers conferred by subsections (3) and (4) in relation to any goods shall extend to the giving of directions with respect to any goods produced or manufactured therefrom, and, where goods to be sold outside the scheduled territories or to be imported were to be produced or manufactured from other goods, to the giving of directions with respect to those other goods and any goods produced or manufactured from those other goods.

Where a person —

Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the power conferred thereby on the Authority to give directions shall extend to the giving of directions that the property shall be assigned to the Authority or to a person specified in the directions.

Where under this Part the Authority has power to give directions that any right to receive any currency or payment in sterling or local currency or to enforce any security for the receipt thereof, any goods, or any other property shall be assigned to the Authority, the Authority shall also have power to direct that the right, goods or property shall vest in the Authority and it or they shall vest in the Authority accordingly free from any mortgage, pledge or charge, and the Authority may deal with it or them as the Authority thinks fit.

Where, in pursuance of directions under this Part, any right, goods or property is or are assigned to the Authority or to a person specified in the directions, or any right, goods or property vests or vest in the Authority in pursuance of directions given under subsection (1), the Authority shall pay the net sum recovered by it in respect of the right, goods or property to the person making the assignment or, in the case of any right, goods or property vested in the Authority under subsection (1), to the person who, but for the directions, would be entitled to the right, goods or property.

Except with the permission of the Authority, no person resident in the scheduled territories shall in Singapore transfer to a person resident outside the scheduled territories, or who is to be a nominee for a person resident outside the scheduled territories, any right to the sums assured by any policy of assurance, so, however, that where the person liable for the sums so assured makes any payment thereof to a person resident in the scheduled territories and not elsewhere, or makes, with the permission of the Authority, any payment thereof to any other person —

Section 20(2) and (3) shall apply in relation to any transfer prohibited by this section as it applies in relation to a transfer prohibited by this Act of a security.

In this section, “nominee” has, in relation to any policy, annuity or insurance, the same meaning as that expression has in Part 4 in relation to a security.

Except with the permission of the Authority, no person resident in the scheduled territories shall in Singapore —

A settlement or exercise of a power of appointment shall not be invalid by reason that it is prohibited by this section, except so far as it purports to confer any interest on any person who, at the time of the settlement or the exercise of the power, is resident outside the scheduled territories.

Section 20(2) and (3) shall apply in relation to a settlement or the exercise of a power of appointment prohibited by this section as it applies in relation to a transfer prohibited by this Act of a security.

For the purpose of this section —

No person resident in the scheduled territories shall in Singapore do any act which involves, is in association with or is preparatory to any such transaction outside Singapore as is referred to in this section.

Where there is served on any person in Singapore a notice in writing that the Authority wishes any such requirements as are hereinafter mentioned to be complied with by any such body corporate as is specified in the Second Schedule (referred to in this subsection as a foreign company), and that person can, by doing or refraining from doing any act —

The requirements with respect to which a notice referred to in subsection (1) may be given are as follows, that is to say, that the foreign company shall:

Except with the permission of the Authority, no person resident in the scheduled territories shall in Singapore do any act whereby a body corporate which is by any means controlled (whether directly or indirectly) by persons resident in the scheduled territories ceases to be controlled by persons resident in the scheduled territories.

Subsection (3) shall not prohibit any person from selling any securities authorised to be dealt in on any recognised stock exchange in Singapore if the sale takes place in pursuance of an agreement entered into in the ordinary course of business on that stock exchange.

No person resident in the scheduled territories shall in Singapore do any act which involves, is in association with or is preparatory to any such transaction outside Singapore as is referred to in subsection (3).

Except with the permission of the Authority, no person resident in the scheduled territories shall in Singapore lend any money, Treasury bills or securities to any body corporate resident in the scheduled territories which is by any means controlled (whether directly or indirectly) by persons resident outside the scheduled territories.

Subsection (6) shall not apply where the lender, after making such inquiries as are reasonable in the circumstances of the case, does not know and has no reason to suspect that the body corporate is controlled as referred to in subsection (3).

No person resident in the scheduled territories shall in Singapore do any act which involves, is in association with or is preparatory to any such transaction outside Singapore as is referred to in subsection (6).

For the purposes of this section and of the Second Schedule, persons resident in or outside the scheduled territories shall be deemed to control a body corporate notwithstanding that other persons are associated with them in the control thereof if they can together override those other persons.

In this section, “security” includes a secondary security.

Any provision of this Act imposing any obligation or prohibition shall have effect subject to such exemptions as may be granted by order of the Authority.

Any such exemption may be either absolute or conditional.

Where —

Where a direction is given under subsection (1), the provisions of the Third Schedule shall have effect in relation to the payment or crediting of the sum.

It shall be an implied condition in any contract that, where, by virtue of this Act, the permission or consent of the Authority is at the time of the contract required for the performance of any term thereof, that term shall not be performed except insofar as the permission or consent is given or is not required.

Subsection (1) shall not apply insofar as it is shown to be inconsistent with the intention of the parties that it should apply, whether by reason of their having contemplated the performance of that term despite the provisions of this Act or for any other reason.

Notwithstanding anything in the Bills of Exchange Act 1949, neither the provisions of this Act, nor any condition, whether express or to be implied having regard to those provisions, that any payment shall not be made without the permission of the Authority under this Act, shall be deemed to prevent any instrument being a bill of exchange or promissory note.

The provisions of the Fourth Schedule shall have effect with respect to legal proceedings, arbitrations, bankruptcy proceedings, the administration of the estates of deceased persons, the winding up of companies, and proceedings under deeds of arrangement or trust deeds for the benefit of creditors.

The provisions of the Fifth Schedule shall have effect for the purpose of the enforcement of this Act.

Persons belonging to the following classes:

This Act shall bind the Government and shall apply to transactions by —

The Authority shall not, by virtue of any contract made by the department or person referred to in subsection (1) or on their behalf in relation to any securities, be under any obligation to grant any permission under Part 4 or any exemption from the provisions of that Part.

Any permission, consent or authority granted under this Act —

Any directions given under any provision of this Act —

Notwithstanding subsection (2)(c), a person shall not by virtue of any direction given by the Authority under this Act, be convicted of an offence under this Act, unless the direction was served on him or he knew, or avoided getting to know, of the giving thereof.

Where reasonable steps were taken for the purpose of bringing the purport of the direction to the notice of the person under subsection (3), it shall be for him to show that he neither knew nor avoided getting to know of the giving thereof.

The Authority may, to such extent and subject to such restrictions and conditions as it may think proper, delegate or authorise the delegation of any of its powers (other than any power to make orders or to give authority to apply for a search warrant) to any person, or class or description of persons, approved by it, and references in this Act shall be construed accordingly.

Any document stating that any permission, consent, authority or direction is given under any of the provisions of this Act by the Authority, and purporting to be signed on its behalf, shall be evidence of the facts stated in the document.

The Authority may by order or direction provide that, for such of the purposes of this Act as may be specified in the order or direction —

Any order or direction under subsection (1)(c) which makes, for any of the purposes of Part 4, such provision as is mentioned in subsection (1)(c) may contain provisions declaring the circumstances in which a branch is to be treated as nominee for any other branch.

Any reference in subsection (1) or (unless the contrary intention appears) in any order or direction made thereunder to a branch of a business shall be deemed to include a reference to the head office of that business.

This section shall apply in relation to any body of persons (whether corporate or unincorporated) carrying on any activity, whether for the purpose of profit or not, as they apply in relation to a business.

For the purposes of this Act, a personal representative of a deceased person shall, unless the Authority otherwise directs, be treated as resident in the territory where the deceased person was resident for the purposes in question at the time of his death and as not resident elsewhere, so far as relates to any matters in which the personal representative is concerned solely in his capacity as such.

The Authority may give directions declaring that for all or any of the purposes of this Act a person is to be treated as resident or not resident in such territories as may be specified in the directions.

Where the Authority is satisfied that owing to the changes in the external or internal position of any country or territory, action is being, or is likely to be, taken to the detriment of the economic position of Singapore, the Authority may give general or special directions prohibiting, either absolutely or to such extent as may be specified in the directions, the carrying out, except with permission granted by the Authority, of any order given by or on behalf of the government of that country or territory or any person resident therein at the time when the directions were given or at any later time while these directions are in force in so far as the order —

Where any directions are given under this section with respect to any country or territory, a branch in that country or territory of any business, whether carried on by a body corporate or otherwise, shall, for the purposes of this section, be treated in all respects as if the branch were a body corporate resident in that country or territory.