Granting of
authorisation to Creative Star Limited as a deposit-taking company
The Hong Kong
Monetary Authority announced today (25 April) that the Monetary
Authority has authorised Creative Star Limited (CSL) as a deposit-taking
company for the principal purpose of issuing the multi-purpose
stored value card known as "Octopus".
The Octopus Card
was previously exempted from the definition of "multi-purpose
card" under the Banking Ordinance because of its restricted
range of uses. The authorisation of CSL as a deposit-taking
company will allow the card to be used for a wider range of
uses, including some that are non-transport-related, with a
view to enhancing the convenience for cardholders. However,
the uses of the card will continue to be mainly transport-related.
CSL was incorporated
on 29 June 1993 for the purpose of operating a common ticketing
and payment system by means of the Octopus Card. It is used
by the major public transport operators in Hong Kong, namely,
Mass Transit Railway Corporation, Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation,
Kowloon Motor Bus, Citybus and New World First Bus.
With the granting
of the authorisation to CSL, the number of deposit-taking companies
in Hong Kong has increased to 69.
Hong Kong Monetary
Authority
25 April 2000