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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (28 August) . . Page.. 2690 ..

I am pleased to present to the Legislative Assembly the Bank Mergers Bill 1997.

Once a bank merger has been approved by the Reserve Bank and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission there are a number of essential processes involved in transferring contracts, assets, liabilities and other obligations to the newly formed banking institution.

This Bill facilitates the transfer processes resulting from a bank merger. This involves deeming the merging bank as the successor in law of another bank and includes the effects of that succession, such as the vesting of assets and or liabilities.

The Bill provides for the use of regulations to be made by the Executive each time a bank merger takes place which affects banking business in the ACT. In the past specific legislation was enacted to deal with each instance of a bank merger. This Bill will eliminate the need for this practice.

The legislation will benefit residents of the ACT who have bank accounts or conduct banking business with banks involved in a merger by facilitating the transfer processes, and of course will also benefit the banking sector.

New South Wales has enacted similar legislation to accommodate bank mergers falling under its jurisdiction.

I commend the Bill to the Assembly.

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