Central Bank Act, 1989.

Amendment of section 2 of Act of 1971.

29.—Section 2 of the Act of 1971 is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution, respectively, of the following definitions for the definitions of “banking business” and “the Court”:

“‘banking business’ means business which consists of—

(a) the business of accepting deposits payable on demand or on notice or at a fixed or determinable future date, or

(b) the business of taking funds, other than deposits, from the public payable on demand or on notice or at a fixed or determinable future date (whether or not involving the issue of securities or other obligations, however described),

but excluding—

(i) deposits with a trader from persons employed by him in his trading business or from his customers in the normal course of his trading business and deposits or instalments in respect of the letting or selling of goods under a hire-purchase agreement or a credit-sale agreement, or

(ii) the taking of other funds by a person from the public where it can be shown that—

(I) no part of the business activities of the person so taking or of any other person is financed wholly or substantially out of those funds, and

(II) such funds are, in the normal course of business, taken on a casual or incidental basis only,

or

(iii) moneys taken solely as a premium in respect of the issue or renewal of a life assurance policy issued by a holder of an authorisation under the European Communities (Life Assurance) Regulations, 1984 (S.I. No. 57 of 1984),

or either or both of the businesses aforesaid and any other business normally carried on by a bank and ‘banking’ and words cognate thereto shall be construed accordingly;

‘the Court’ means, except where the context otherwise requires, the High Court;”;

(b) by the substitution, respectively, of the following definitions for the definitions of “general fund”, “gold bullion”, “issue” and “legal tender note”:

“‘general fund’ means the fund to which section 63 of the Currency Act, 1927 , related and which continues to be kept by the Bank by virtue of section 23 of the Central Bank Act, 1989;

‘gold bullion’ includes any gold coins other than gold coins which are for the time being legal tender in the State;

‘issue’, when used in relation to legal tender notes, includes the re-issue of any such note which has ceased to be outstanding;

‘legal tender note’ means a legal tender note provided and issued under and in accordance with the Central Bank Acts, 1942 to 1989, and any other enactment amending or extending those Acts or under any Act repealed by the Central Bank Act, 1989;”.