Section 48, The Banking Act, 2019

(1) A bank or financial holding company shall not grantany advances, loans or credit facilities including guarantees against - (a) the security of its own shares; (b) the shares of its holding company; (c) the shares of any of its subsidiaries or the shares of any of the subsidiaries or its financial holding company; or (d) the shares of the subsidiaries of its financial on exposure and investment. No. 6 The Banking Act 2019No. 6 The Banking Act 201968 69 (2) A bank or financial holding company shall not issue shares that are paid for by funds borrowed from that bank. (3) A transaction carried out in contravention of subsections (1) and (2) shall be void. (4) A Director of a bank or financial holding company who contravenes subsections (1) and (2) is liable to an administrative penalty. (5) Subject to subsection (7), a bank may acquire or hold part of the share capital of any financial company, the aggregate value of which shall not exceed a percentage to be determined by the Central Bank, of the net own funds of that bank or financial (6) A bank or financial holding company shall only purchase, acquire or lease real estate for the purpose of furthering its own business or providing amenities for staff the value of which shall not at any time exceed twenty-five (25%) of the net own funds. (7) Subsection (5) shall not apply in respect of a shareholding in any corporation set up for the purpose of insuring bank or financial holding company deposits or of promoting the development of a money market or securities market or of development of financial companies. (8) Notwithstanding subsection (5), a bank or financial holding company shall not be excluded from the purchase and sale of shares or stock upon the order and for the account of a customer. (9) Notwithstanding subsection (6), a bank or financial holding company may secure a debt on any transferable real or other property and in default of repayment may acquire such property for resale by the bank or financial holding company within a specific timeline as prescribed by the Central Bank. (10) In the application of the limitation of subsection (5), if the Central Bank determines that the interests of a group, constituting more than one individual, partnership, private company, or other association of persons corporate or unincorporated, are so interrelated that they should be considered as a unit, the total indebtedness of that group shall be combined and deemed to be in respect of a single person. (11) A bank or financial holding company shall not be deemed to have contravened subsection (1) solely by reason of the fact that the combined indebtedness exceeds that limitation at the time of the determination, but the bank or financial holding company shall dispose of the indebtedness of the group in the amount in excess of the limitation within such a specific time as prescribed by the Central (12) A bank or financial holding company which before the commencement of this Act entered into any transactions incompatible with subsection (1) shall as soon as the commencement of this Act, submit a statement to the Central Bank and shall, within one year from that date, finally liquidate all such transactions.