New South Wales Consolidated Acts

BANKS AND BANK HOLIDAYS ACT 1912 - SCHEDULE 6

SCHEDULE 6 – Opening of banks on weekends

(Section 15A (2))

1 Banks may apply to open on weekends

(1) A bank may apply to the Director-General of the Department of Commerce for approval to open the bank, or one or more branches of the bank, in New South Wales on Saturdays or Sundays, or both, that are declared to be bank holidays under section 15A.

(2) An application is:

(a) to be made in writing to the Director-General, and

(b) to be accompanied by such information as the Director-General requires to determine the application, and

(c) to be accompanied by the fee set out in subclause (13) or such other fee as may be prescribed by the regulations.

(3) The Director-General may:

(a) grant an approval unconditionally or subject to conditions, or

(b) refuse to grant an approval.

(4) In determining an application for an approval, the Director-General is to consider whether granting the approval would be in the interests of the public, taking into account the likely effect of granting the approval on particular sections of the public, including customers of the bank concerned in any particular area (whether or not an area the subject of the application) and persons employed or engaged (whether or not by the bank) to perform services for the bank.

(5) Nothing in subclause (4) limits the matters that the Director-General may consider in determining an application for approval.

(6) For the purposes of determining an application for approval, the Director-General may request the applicant to provide such further information as the Director-General considers relevant to the determination of the application.

(7) The Director-General may refuse to grant an approval if the applicant for approval does not comply with a request under subclause (6).

(8) The Director-General may prepare guidelines relating to the type of information that may be required in connection with an application under this Schedule.

(9) In preparing any such guidelines, the Director-General may consult with the banking industry.

(10) If the Director-General grants an approval, the Director-General must issue the applicant with a written approval that sets out any conditions to which the approval is subject.

(11) If the Director-General refuses an application for approval, the Director-General must give notice of the refusal in writing to the applicant setting out the reasons for the refusal.

(12) If the Director-General has not determined an application for approval before the expiration of the period of 40 days after the application was made to the Director-General (or such longer period as the Director-General determines with the consent in writing of the applicant), the Director-General is taken to have made a decision to refuse to grant the approval.

(13) The fee to accompany an application by a bank under this clause is:

(a) if the application relates to specified branches of the bank-$50 for each specified branch up to a maximum fee of $2,500, or

(b) if the application relates to all of the branches of the bank from time to time-$2,500.

2 Duration of approval

Except during any period of suspension, an approval under this Schedule remains in force for the period specified in the approval or, if no period is so specified, until the approval is cancelled.

3 Variation, suspension or cancellation of approval

(1) The Director-General of the Department of Commerce may, at the request of the bank that holds the approval or on the Director-General’s own initiative, vary the conditions of, or suspend or cancel, an approval under this Schedule.

(2) An approval may be suspended or cancelled only if:

(a) the bank that holds the approval has contravened a condition of the approval, or

(b) the Director-General considers that it is no longer in the interests of the public for the approval to remain in force, or

(c) the bank has requested the suspension or cancellation.

(3) The Director-General may only vary the conditions of, or suspend or cancel, an approval under this Schedule:

(a) after having given the bank concerned written reasons for the Director-General’s intention to vary, suspend or cancel and an opportunity to make submissions, and

(b) after having considered any submissions duly made by the bank.

(4) Subclause (3) does not apply to a variation of a condition of, or the suspension or cancellation of, an approval at the request of the bank that holds the approval.

(5) A variation of the conditions of, or a suspension or cancellation of, an approval:

(a) must be made by notice in writing served on the bank that holds the approval, and

(b) takes effect at the time at which the notice is served or at a later time specified in the notice.

(6) Before determining to take action under this clause in relation to an approval, the Director-General may (but need not) determine that the approval will be subject to a period of review.

(7) The Director-General is to give written notice of a determination under subclause (6) to the bank that holds the approval concerned and is to include in the notice written reasons for the determination.

4 Review of decisions by Administrative Decisions Tribunal

(1) A bank that is the applicant for an approval under this Schedule or the holder of such an approval may apply to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal for a review of any of the following decisions under this Schedule:

(a) a decision of the Director-General to refuse to grant the approval,

(b) a decision of the Director-General to impose conditions on the approval,

(c) a decision of the Director-General to vary the conditions of the approval,

(d) a decision of the Director-General to suspend or cancel the approval.

(2) A representative of an industrial organisation of which persons employed or engaged to perform services for a bank are entitled or eligible to belong may apply to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal for a review of any of the following decisions under this Schedule:

(a) a decision of the Director-General to grant an approval under this Schedule to the bank (whether with or without conditions),

(b) a decision of the Director-General to vary the conditions of an approval granted to the bank under this Schedule.

(3) In this clause, "industrial organisation" means an industrial organisation within the meaning of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 , or an organisation registered under the Workplace Relations Act 1996 of the Commonwealth.

5 Existing approvals

An approval in force under Part 2 of the Shops and Industries Act 1962 and clause 4 of the Shops and Industries Regulation 2007 immediately before the commencement of this Schedule is taken to have been granted under this Schedule.