The Companies Act, 2004
	Deposit Insurance Act, 1988
	The Terrorism Prevention Act, 2005
	The Income Tax Act

Proceeds of Crimes Act (POCA)
This Act was passed by Parliament in March 2007 and came into effect on May 30, 2007. POCA is a wide-ranging legislation that targets benefits derived from the commission of any crime, and incorporates the concept of money laundering as well as introduces the principle of civil procedure. With the passage of POCA the Drug Offences (forfeiture of Proceeds) Act, Dangerous Drugs Act, Money Laundering Act, 1996, and the Money Laundering Regulations, 1997 have been effectively repealed and replaced.

LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENTS AND DEVELOPMENT OF SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION

On-going review of the legislative framework is a necessary and fundamental step in achieving supervisory policy and developmental objectives, especially given the dynamism in local and international markets and the evolving nature of international best practice standards. In this regard, the Bank of Jamaica is involved in a number of initiatives for amendment of legislation and development of related regulations as follows:

Credit Classification and Provisioning Regulations - are in process of redrafting to take full account of Basel Guidelines on Loan Accounting and Disclosure as well as the impairment requirements prescribed under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). These Regulations will among other things, codify the Bank of Jamaica's approach to classifying credits into defined loan categories and also stipulate specific minimum provisioning levels for bad and doubtful debts as well as other related matters (e.g. credit renegotiations).

Qualifications of Auditors Regulations - These Regulations will specify the standards for auditors in undertaking an external audit of a supervised financial institution. Among other things, such criteria relate to the independence, experience, expertise and academic qualifications of the external auditors, and will also require prior notification to the Bank of Jamaica of proposed appointments.

Credit Unions Regulations - Credit Unions were designated as “specified financial institutions’ by the Minister of Finance and Planning in 1999, which currently allows the Bank of Jamaica to access information on the sector. This represents a preliminary step to the Government’s stated intention of initiating broader legislative changes through the modernization of the legislation governing cooperative societies, with particular reference to credit unions. Regulations are being finalized and are expected to be shortly brought to Parliament to provide the Bank of Jamaica with the necessary regulatory and sanction powers to effectively supervise these entities. Once promulgated, these Regulations will introduce a licensing regime and provide the Central Bank with the requisite authority and legal powers to examine these entities, as well as impose sanctions with respect to breaches of law and imprudent practices. Among other things, the Regulations will prescribe prudential criteria and minimum solvency standards covering matters such as capital, reserves, liquid assets, loan loss provisioning and submission of prudential returns and audited financial statements. Since 2003, Bank of Jamaica has commenced on-site examinations and the collection of prudential return data in anticipation of the new Regulation.

Omnibus Bill - Bank of Jamaica has identified a need to consolidate the Banking Act, the Financial Institutions Act and the Bank of Jamaica (Building Societies) Regulations, in tandem with related subsidiary regulations, to remove inconsistencies in the existing legal requirements for deposit-taking entities and eliminate occasion for regulatory arbitrage. In this regard, during 2005, BOJ commenced the drafting proposal of an Omnibus Bill which is expected to be completed in 2006. The new Omnibus Bill will also seek to include all legislative amendments necessary to achieve fullest possible compliance with the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision.

Conglomerate/Consolidated Supervision - Although the Bank of Jamaica has already introduced aspects of conglomerate supervision (e.g. fit and proper assessments of principals of the parent company of licensed entities, and requirement for the submission of annual audited financial statements of all members of the conglomerate group of which the licensee is a part), the Bank has identified a need to widen its supervisory scope consistent with international standards. Further to legislative amendments effected in 2002, which gave the BOJ certain enhanced powers for consolidated supervision, work began in 2005 toward the framing of ‘Holding Company’ Regulations under the proposed Omnibus legislation. These Regulations are intended to allow the Supervisory Authority to regulate not only the activities of the licensed deposit taking entity, but also of the financial holding company, as well as facilitate supervisory reach to the entire financial group of which the licensee is a part.

The Financial Investigations Division Bill - The Financial Investigations Division Bill proposes to give the existing Financial Investigations Division (FID) of the Ministry of Finance the necessary statutory powers and protections to carry out that Division’s mandate of investigating and prosecuting financial crime including money laundering, and the financing of terrorism. The FID operates as Jamaica's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the passage of the statute will assist the FID in attaining membership with the Egmont Group of FIU. It is anticipated that this Bill will be passed shortly.