Notices

Hong Leong Finance Common Reporting Standard (CRS) Notice

The Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) will take effect in Singapore from 1 January 2017.

CRS is a set of rules on information gathering and reporting which Hong Leong Finance is subject to. The aim of CRS is to facilitate the automatic exchange of information (“AEOI”) between Singapore and other countries on holders of financial accounts, with the aim of identifying and counteracting global tax evasion.

Under CRS, we have a legal obligation to gather certain information on our new customers, identify customers that are not “tax resident” in Singapore and report information on certain non-resident customers to the Inland Revenue of Singapore (“IRAS”). We may also need to request additional information from certain existing customers.

For our existing customers that are affected by CRS, we will contact you directly and confirm what steps need to be taken. New customers will be required to complete CRS forms as part of the process of opening their accounts with us.

For further information on CRS and AEOI, please refer to the CRS page on the IRAS website (https://www.iras.gov.sg/irashome/CRS/) or OECD AEOI website (https://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/)

Hong Leong Finance Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Notice

With effect from 1 July 2014, this FATCA Notice ("this Notice") forms part of the terms and conditions governing your relationship as customer with us, Hong Leong Finance, as set out in the security and/or legal documents (collectively “Hong Leong Finance”, “we”, “you” or “us”) (“Terms and Conditions”) and should be read in conjunction with those Terms and Conditions.

This Notice shall not affect our rights of collection, use, disclosure, processing and/or transfer of confidential information and/or personal data available pursuant to the Terms and Conditions or under the law or any statutory provisions or at common law or equity and nothing herein shall be construed as limiting any of those other rights.

"FATCA" means the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of the United States of America (U.S.) and any regulations and orders made thereto. This Act was enacted in 2010 as part of the U.S. Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act and its purpose is to increase transparency for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") with respect to U.S. Persons who hold financial assets in non-U.S. financial institutions and other offshore accounts. Foreign Financial Institutions ("FFIs") are required to report information about financial accounts to the IRS.

In many countries, local law would prevent an FFI from reporting directly to the IRS the information required by the FATCA statutory provisions and regulations, thus potentially exposing the FFI to withholding. Such an outcome would be inconsistent with FATCA's objective to address offshore tax evasion through increased information reporting. To overcome these legal impediments, the U.S. Treasury Department has collaborated with foreign governments to develop two alternative model intergovernmental agreements (Model 1 and Model 2) - or IGAs. These IGAs facilitate the effective and efficient implementation of FATCA in a manner that removes domestic legal impediments to compliance, fulfils FATCA's policy objectives, and further reduces burdens on FFIs located in partner jurisdictions.

1. Definitions

For the purpose of this Notice, unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms shall have the meanings as defined below:-

  1. "confidential information" means any information relating to Your accounts with us (including account details and transactional information) and any other information which is by its nature clearly confidential or deemed to be confidential;
  2. "personal data" shall have the same meanings ascribed to them under the Singapore Personal Data Protection Act;
  3. "IRS" means the Internal Revenue Service of U.S.;
  4. "IRAS" means the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore;
  5. "U.S." means the United States of America;
  6. "U.S. Persons" means a U.S. Citizen or resident individual, a partnership or corporation organized in the U.S. or under the laws of the U.S. or any state of the U.S., or a trust if (I) a court within the U.S. would have authority under applicable law to render orders or judgments concerning substantially all issues regarding administration of trust, and (II) one or more U.S. Persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust, or an estate of a descendent that is a citizen or resident of the U.S. This definition shall be interpreted in accordance with the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Please note that persons who have lost their U.S. citizenship and who live outside the U.S. may nonetheless in some circumstances be treated as U.S. Persons.
  7. Any reference to the word "You", "Your" and words of similar import herein shall mean the customers of Hong Leong Finance Limited;
  8. Any reference to the word "We", "us" or "our" and words of similar import herein shall mean Hong Leong Finance Limited and its related companies and their respective staff, agent, successor or assign;
  9. Words importing the singular number include the plural number and vice versa. Words importing the masculine genders shall include the feminine and neuter gender and vice versa;
  10. Clauses and other similar headings are for ease of reference and shall not affect the interpretation of any terms herein; and
  11. Reference to any statute, statutory provision or subsidiary legislation includes a reference to that statute, statutory provision or subsidiary legislation as may be amended, varied, revised, substituted or re-enacted from time to time.

2. Obligation to provide information and documents

You shall provide us with all documentation and information as may be required by us to enable us to comply with all applicable laws and regulations of Singapore and any other jurisdictions or under any other agreements or treaties made by or between tax authorities and/or governments including but not limited to FATCA. You shall also co-operate with us by providing the relevant answers to our enquiries to enable us to comply with the above.

3. Notification of change in circumstances

You shall promptly notify us in writing of any change in:

  1. Your particulars, circumstances, status, including any change in citizenship, residence, tax residency, address(es) on record, telephone and facsimile numbers and email addresses; and
  2. (where applicable) Your constitution, shareholders, partners, directors or company secretary, or the nature of your business. You shall also notify us in writing within thirty (30) days of any change that affects your tax status in relation to FATCA under any laws, regulations or other agreement by or between governments.

4. Disclosure of information

You irrevocably and unconditionally consent and authorize us to collect, use, disclose, process and/or transfer your confidential information and/or personal data to:-

  1. any government, quasi-government, regulatory, fiscal, monetary or other authority, agency body or person, whether in Singapore or elsewhere;
  2. any party (including the IRS and IRAS) to whom we are under a duty to disclose under any applicable laws, regulations, orders, agreements or treaties made by or between tax authorities and/or governments(including FATCA); or
  3. any party where we in good faith deem it in our interest to make such disclosure.

Your consent herein shall be effective notwithstanding any applicable non-disclosure agreement.

Confidential Information includes your personal data, your bank account details, transactional information, and any other information that a reasonable person would consider being of a confidential or proprietary nature. Your consent shall be effective notwithstanding any applicable nondisclosure agreement. You represent that you have secured from any third party whose information is provided to Hong Leong Finance any consents and waivers necessary to permit Hong Leong Finance to carry out the actions described in this paragraph, and that you will secure such consents and waivers in advance of providing similar information to Hong Leong Finance in the future.

5. Reporting obligations

You agree and acknowledge that we are entitled to take all necessary action to comply with all applicable laws, regulations, orders, agreements or treaties made by or between tax authorities and/or governments. Where FATCA applies to you, if some of your income is reportable and some are not, we will report all income unless we can reasonably determine the reportable amount.

6. Right to withhold payments or close Accounts

You agree and acknowledge that any sum of monies which are payable by us to You shall be subject to all applicable laws, including any withholding tax requirement, foreign exchange restriction or control. You agree and acknowledge that pursuant to the foregoing we may perform, or cause to be performed any or all of the followings:-

  1. we shall have the right to collect, withhold and/or deduct any monies payable to You and pay or remit the same as tax to the IRS and/or IRAS; or
  2. deposit any such monies into a sundry or other account and/or retain such monies pending determination of the applicability of such withholding tax requirement, foreign exchange restriction or control.

You agree and acknowledge that any failure, neglect or refusal on Your part to provide accurate and timely information and/or documents as may be required by us pursuant to the above Conditions 1 and 2 shall give us the right to take all necessary action against You including but not limited to our rights of collection, withholding, deduction, deposit, retention and/or remittance stated above.

We shall not be liable to You and/or any third party for any losses, damages, costs (including legal costs on a full indemnity basis), expenses or any other liabilities whatsoever (whether actual or contingent, directly or indirectly) that may be incurred or suffered by You by reason of the aforesaid collection, withholding, deduction, deposit, retention and/or remittance.

7. Right of action including investigation

You agree and acknowledge that we shall be entitled to take whatever action we consider necessary or appropriate to comply with our obligations, either in Singapore or elsewhere in the world, under all applicable laws, regulations, orders, agreements or treaties made by or between tax authorities and/or governments, including FATCA, relating to the prevention of tax evasion. This may include, but is not limited to, investigating and intercepting payments into and out of your accounts with us, investigating the source of or intended recipient of funds, sharing information and documents with domestic and international tax authorities and withholding income and monies from Your accounts with us and transferring the income and monies to such tax authorities. If we are not satisfied that any payment in or out of Your accounts with us is lawful, we shall be entitled to refuse to perform such transaction.

8. Termination

You agree that we have a right to terminate your Account at any time without having to give any reason or notice.

9. No Liability on our part

We shall not be liable to you and/or any third party for any losses, damages, costs (including legal costs on a full indemnity basis), expenses or any other liabilities whatsoever (whether actual or contingent, directly or indirectly) that may be incurred or suffered by you as a result of or in consequence of or in connection with our complying with all applicable laws, regulations, orders, agreements or treaties made by or between tax authorities and/or governments including FATCA or if we, in good faith, make an incorrect determination as to whether or not You should be treated as being subject to tax, tax reporting or withholding tax obligations etc. and such other obligations stated herein.

10. Inconsistent Terms

If there is any inconsistency or conflict between the Terms and Conditions and the terms herein, the terms herein shall prevail insofar as they relate to our compliance with the tax, reporting and/or withholding requirements including but not limited to FATCA.