Monetary Authority approved the appointment of external auditors for preparing a report on Octopus Cards Limited commissioned under section 59(2) of the Banking Ordinance

Press Releases

03 Aug 2010

Monetary Authority approved the appointment of external auditors for preparing a report on Octopus Cards Limited commissioned under section 59(2) of the Banking Ordinance

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Tuesday) that following its announcement on 22 July 2010 concerning the issuance of a notice to Octopus Cards Limited (OCL) under section 59(2) of the Banking Ordinance requiring OCL to submit to the Monetary Authority (MA) an independent auditors' report on OCL (the Report), the MA has given approval under section 59(3) of the Banking Ordinance for the appointment of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (the Auditors) to prepare the Report.

The scope of the Report is to establish whether any third parties, including any related companies of OCL, had access to or received from OCL any Octopus cardholders' personal data and if so, whether the use of such personal data was in accordance with the applicable laws, codes and regulations. The Report covers the period from the date when such personal data were first provided to third parties to the date of commencement of the review.

An HKMA spokesperson said that the Report covers OCL, which is an authorized institution. The scope and process of the section 59(2) review is subject to HKMA's oversight and control, and the Report of the review will be submitted to the HKMA directly.

The spokesperson added that the Auditors are expected to submit the Report to the MA no later than 10 weeks after the commencement of the review. However, the HKMA will, to the extent possible, explore with the independent auditors on how to speed up the completion of the Report.

For media enquiries, please contact:
Anissa Wong, Manager (Communications), at 2878 1802 or
Yokee Wong, Manager (Communications), at 2878 1213

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
3 August 2010

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Last revision date : 03 August 2010