A comparative study on bank confidentiality law in Hong Kong and Mainland China

Abstract

This thesis compares the bank confidentiality laws in Hong Kong and Mainland China and evaluates their effectiveness in achieving the desired ends. It uses a set of common functions of bank confidentiality law, developed through examination of the origin, concept and rationale of bank confidentiality, as the parameters for the comparative study. Bank confidentiality law and practice in Hong Kong and Mainland China are analyzed in detail in order to demonstrate the differences and similarities. Moreover, the thesis puts the comparison into three specific thorny but interesting fields for bank confidentiality law, ie credit referencing, anti-money laundering and extraterritorial operation of banks, to deepen the understanding on the two bank confidentiality regimes. The thesis concludes with an overall evaluation on the institutional efficiency of the two bank confidentiality law regimes as well as a number of recommendations for improvement of each of them.