Errant lawyers may soon find themselves under a quicker and sharper disciplinary process.
A high-level committee headed by Justice V K Rajah has proposed changes to streamline and accelerate various stages of the process, sieving out baseless and vexatious complaints.
The committee recently completed a review of the legal sector.
The Ministry of Law said yesterday that it views the committee’s recommendations as positive moves to fine-tune and improve the disciplinary process.
There is room for improvement as the average time taken by the Disciplinary Committees (DC) to complete cases has doubled from 7.5 months in 2002 to 15.4 months last year.
Part of the reason is that the DC, an independent tribunal appointed by the Chief Justice, comprises two lawyers, one officer from the legal service and a lay person. This composition makes it difficult to schedule early hearings.
So one proposal is to replace the four-man DC with a Disciplinary Tribunal (DT) comprising just one person who could be a senior counsel, retired Judge or Judicial Commissioner.
The Law Society yesterday expressed concern about this proposal and said that the tribunal should continue to have three legally qualified persons.
‘In most jurisdictions, a lawyer is judged by a panel made up of three of his peers,’ the society said in a statement.
To sieve out baseless complaints, the committee has recommended that every complaint be made in writing and supported by a statutory declaration affirming or swearing the truth of the particulars, unless it is made by a public officer. The maximum deposit that complainants have to place will be increased from the current $500 to $1,000.
The DT will also be empowered to order a complainant to pay the costs of proceedings before it if the complaint is found to be frivolous or vexatious.
To prevent the disciplinary process from stalling, judicial review of the DT’s decision should also only be allowed after the tribunal has completed its hearings, the committee said.
Source : Business Times - 7 Dec 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Bank lending to the property sector continued to accelerate
Bank lending to the property sector continued to accelerate in October, growing at the fastest annual pace in eight years, according to new data from the Singapore central bank yesterday.
Overall loans growth in the banking sector also picked up in October, the latest estimates from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) show.
Loans to the broad property sector, comprising consumer home loans and business loans to the building and construction industry, reached $105.7 billion at end-October - up 18.1 per cent from a year ago.
The year-on-year expansion was the fastest since October 1999, when property-related lending grew by 19.5 per cent.
Over the month, property-related loans grew 3.2 per cent from $102.4 billion at end-September, the fastest monthly pace since Nov 1998.
Consumer home loans, which include mortgages as well as short-term ‘bridging loans’ offered by banks to buyers of new homes who are waiting to receive the cash from selling another property, grew 14.3 per cent from a year ago to $71.8 billion, the fastest since October 2004. Over the month, the growth was 1.9 per cent, slightly slower than the 2 per cent growth in September.
Much of the period covered by latest data precedes the government’s withdrawal on Oct 26 of the deferred payment scheme for private property purchases, which was aimed at discouraging speculative buying.
David Conner, chief executive of OCBC Bank, said at the release of the group’s third-quarter results on Nov 6 that he expects to see an increase in demand for mortgages over the next two years, partly due to the withdrawal of the scheme, as buyers of new private homes will now have to pay a larger portion of the cost of a property while it is being built instead of deferring payments until the building is completed.
Meanwhile, loans to businesses in the building and construction sector rose 27.1 per cent over the year - the fastest since December 1996 - and 6 per cent over the month to $33.9 billion at end-October.
Total customer deposits grew 20.8 per cent over the year to $311.9 billion at end-October, while total loans grew just 15.5 per cent to $224.1 billion.
On a monthly basis, however, loans growth has outpaced growth in deposits since June. Over the month of October, loans grew 2.4 per cent compared to 1 per cent for deposits.
With the rapid expansion in loans, the ratio of loans to deposits in the banking system has recovered slightly to 71.8 per cent at the end of October, after falling as low as 67.1 per cent at end-May - the lowest in the published MAS data series, which started in Jan 1991.
Overall, loans to businesses grew at a faster pace than consumer loans, both on a monthly basis and when compared to a year ago.
Loans to businesses grew 18.5 per cent over the year and 2.6 per cent over the month to $120.1 billion. Other than the building and construction industry, the rapid growth in business loans was mainly due to expansion in loans to financial institutions and to the transport, storage and communications sector.
Meanwhile, consumer loans expanded 12.2 per cent over the year and 2.2 per cent over the month to $103.9 billion, driven mainly by the surge in home loans. Share financing and credit card lending also continued to grow, although these account for less than 8 per cent of total consumer loans.
The number of credit cards in circulation grew 15.3 per cent over the year and 2.4 per cent over the month to 4.45 million at end-October, excluding supplementary cards. But the total credit card rollover balance - that portion of the credit card debt that is subject to interest charges - dipped slightly over the month to $2.85 billion.
Source : Business Times - 1 Dec 2007
Overall loans growth in the banking sector also picked up in October, the latest estimates from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) show.
Loans to the broad property sector, comprising consumer home loans and business loans to the building and construction industry, reached $105.7 billion at end-October - up 18.1 per cent from a year ago.
The year-on-year expansion was the fastest since October 1999, when property-related lending grew by 19.5 per cent.
Over the month, property-related loans grew 3.2 per cent from $102.4 billion at end-September, the fastest monthly pace since Nov 1998.
Consumer home loans, which include mortgages as well as short-term ‘bridging loans’ offered by banks to buyers of new homes who are waiting to receive the cash from selling another property, grew 14.3 per cent from a year ago to $71.8 billion, the fastest since October 2004. Over the month, the growth was 1.9 per cent, slightly slower than the 2 per cent growth in September.
Much of the period covered by latest data precedes the government’s withdrawal on Oct 26 of the deferred payment scheme for private property purchases, which was aimed at discouraging speculative buying.
David Conner, chief executive of OCBC Bank, said at the release of the group’s third-quarter results on Nov 6 that he expects to see an increase in demand for mortgages over the next two years, partly due to the withdrawal of the scheme, as buyers of new private homes will now have to pay a larger portion of the cost of a property while it is being built instead of deferring payments until the building is completed.
Meanwhile, loans to businesses in the building and construction sector rose 27.1 per cent over the year - the fastest since December 1996 - and 6 per cent over the month to $33.9 billion at end-October.
Total customer deposits grew 20.8 per cent over the year to $311.9 billion at end-October, while total loans grew just 15.5 per cent to $224.1 billion.
On a monthly basis, however, loans growth has outpaced growth in deposits since June. Over the month of October, loans grew 2.4 per cent compared to 1 per cent for deposits.
With the rapid expansion in loans, the ratio of loans to deposits in the banking system has recovered slightly to 71.8 per cent at the end of October, after falling as low as 67.1 per cent at end-May - the lowest in the published MAS data series, which started in Jan 1991.
Overall, loans to businesses grew at a faster pace than consumer loans, both on a monthly basis and when compared to a year ago.
Loans to businesses grew 18.5 per cent over the year and 2.6 per cent over the month to $120.1 billion. Other than the building and construction industry, the rapid growth in business loans was mainly due to expansion in loans to financial institutions and to the transport, storage and communications sector.
Meanwhile, consumer loans expanded 12.2 per cent over the year and 2.2 per cent over the month to $103.9 billion, driven mainly by the surge in home loans. Share financing and credit card lending also continued to grow, although these account for less than 8 per cent of total consumer loans.
The number of credit cards in circulation grew 15.3 per cent over the year and 2.4 per cent over the month to 4.45 million at end-October, excluding supplementary cards. But the total credit card rollover balance - that portion of the credit card debt that is subject to interest charges - dipped slightly over the month to $2.85 billion.
Source : Business Times - 1 Dec 2007
Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said it will set aside 60 hectares - the Marina South Residential District (MSRD) - for 11,000 homes.
A LOW-RISE eco-village, canal streets, a coastal shopping promenade and terraced communal green roofs - coupled with dramatic views and contrasting skylines. This is the living environment suggested by the winning entrants in a competition to get ideas on how Marina Bay should look.
In September, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said it will set aside 60 hectares - the Marina South Residential District (MSRD) - for 11,000 homes.
A design competition to inspire innovative ideas to distinguish the area was announced at the same time.
When the competition closed on Nov 12, 30 entries had been received from local and overseas architects. Foreign submissions came from Hong Kong, Australia, Indonesia, India and the US.
Four schemes have been selected and another two received special mention. The winners are Hong Kong’s Compass Studio and Singapore’s Khoo Teik Rong, SKPS-Project and Surbana. Special mention was given to Australia’s Chor and Singapore’s ZONG Architects.
The four winners will get $10,000 and the two special mention schemes $5,000.
‘We are impressed with the numerous interesting and novel ideas from the competition,’ said URA’s director for urban planning and design Fun Siew Leng.
‘They will serve as a starting point to stimulate reflection and inspiration to develop Marina South into a distinctive waterfront garden district for generations to come.’
MSRD will also have 1.6 million sq ft set aside for hotel use and 678,000 sq ft of commercial space. The entire project will be developed over 15 to 20 years, once supporting infrastructure has been put in place.
Source : Business Times - 1 Dec 2007
In September, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said it will set aside 60 hectares - the Marina South Residential District (MSRD) - for 11,000 homes.
A design competition to inspire innovative ideas to distinguish the area was announced at the same time.
When the competition closed on Nov 12, 30 entries had been received from local and overseas architects. Foreign submissions came from Hong Kong, Australia, Indonesia, India and the US.
Four schemes have been selected and another two received special mention. The winners are Hong Kong’s Compass Studio and Singapore’s Khoo Teik Rong, SKPS-Project and Surbana. Special mention was given to Australia’s Chor and Singapore’s ZONG Architects.
The four winners will get $10,000 and the two special mention schemes $5,000.
‘We are impressed with the numerous interesting and novel ideas from the competition,’ said URA’s director for urban planning and design Fun Siew Leng.
‘They will serve as a starting point to stimulate reflection and inspiration to develop Marina South into a distinctive waterfront garden district for generations to come.’
MSRD will also have 1.6 million sq ft set aside for hotel use and 678,000 sq ft of commercial space. The entire project will be developed over 15 to 20 years, once supporting infrastructure has been put in place.
Source : Business Times - 1 Dec 2007
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