Section 96 Investments and Securities Act 2025

Section 96 of the Investments and Securities Act 2025 is about Invitation to the public to deposit money. It is under Part IX (Regulation of Securities) of the Act. It provides as follows:

(1) A person making an invitation to the public to deposit money with it shall, prior to the making of the invitation, obtain the written consent of the Commission and shall only make the invitation in accordance with such conditions and restrictions as may be imposed by the Commission.

(2) The Commission may grant or withhold the consent referred to under subsection (1) and may require that any advertisement or circular to be used in connection with the invitation shall be registered with or approved by the Commission.

(3) Where any advertisement or circular used in connection with the invitation contains any untrue statement, subject to subsection (4), any person who made the invitation and every person who was a director of a company making the invitation at the time the advertisement or circular was published is liable to pay compensation within one month to any person who deposited money with the body corporate having relied on the advertisement or circular, for any loss they may have sustained by reason of such untrue statement.

(4) A person shall not be liable under subsection (3), if he proves that —
(a) he had reasonable ground to believe and did believe up to the time of publication of the advertisement or circular that the statement was true; or
(b) the advertisement or circular was published without his knowledge and that on becoming aware of its publication he immediately gave reasonable public notice that it was published without his knowledge.

(5) Where any person or body corporate deposits any money with a body corporate as a result of an untrue statement of a material fact made, whether innocently or fraudulently, in any advertisement or circular published in connection with any invitation to the public made by or on behalf of that body corporate, the person shall be entitled to require that person or the body corporate immediately to repay such money with interest at the current interbank rate per annum or such higher rate as may have been agreed to be paid on the deposit.