Article 2
Definitions
For the purposes of this law, the following mean:
1. Agency: premises within the country, belonging to a financial institution, banking or non-banking, with its registered office in Angola, without separate juridical identity but which carries out directly, wholly or in part, operations that are inherent to the activities of a company or supplementary premises of the branch office in the country, of a financial institution, banking or non-banking, with its registered office in another country;
2. Authorization: act by which the responsible authorities confer the right to carry out the activity of a financial institution;
3. Foreign Exchange Office: non-banking financial institutions dedicated to dealing in foreign currencies, buying and selling, in accordance with specific regulation;
4. Credit Co-operative: non-banking financial institutions authorized to receive deposits from their associates and allowed to carry out credit operations with these associates, in accordance with specific regulation;
5. Credit: act by which a banking or non-banking financial institution, acting on a fee-paying basis, places or promises to place funds at the disposal of an individual or corporate body against the promise to reimburse on the agreed date or contracts, in the interest of that same entity, an undertaking upon a signature, such as a guarantee;
6. Sub-Office: supplementary premises of an agency located in the market of the same;
7. Deposit: contract under which an entity (the depositor) entrusts money to a banking financial institution (the depositary), which has the right to dispose of it for its own business, but is responsible for repayment of an identical amount, with or without payment of interest, within the agreed deadline;
8. Affiliate: a company or institution standing in relationship to another company or institution, designated by the parent company as dependent, it being considered that an affiliate of an affiliate is also an affiliate of the parent company on which both depend;
9. Trade Name: name adopted by a financial institution, that suggests the activity that is the corporate purpose of the company;
10. Financial Institutions: public or private law companies, that do business as financial institutions, banking or non-banking, in accordance with this law;
11. Banking Financial Institutions: are banks, companies which have as their main activity the receipt of deposits made by the public or other reimbursable funds, which it has the right to dispose of for its own business, as credit granted in accordance with article 4 of this law;
12. Non-banking Financial Institutions: companies that are not banking financial institutions, having as main activity one, or more, of the activities included in lines d),f), j), l), m), n), o), and q) of number 1, of article 4 of this law;
13. Micro-credit: loans of small value to small entrepreneurs, to be defined by regulation;
14. Supervisory Entities: are the authorities that inspect, supervise, and control within the financial system, namely, the National Bank of Angola in the areas of money and credit, the Insurance Supervision Institute in the areas of insurance and social security, and the Securities Supervision Entity in the area of Capital Market and investment;
15. Qualified shareholding/restricted equity holding: a holding in a company, directly or indirectly, of not less than 10% of the capital or voting rights, being considered equal to voting rights of the participant, the rights held by companies which stand in a group relationship to the same, including the rights held by members of administrative and supervisory bodies of the participant in the companies in question;
16. Controlling position: when the operations of a financial institution influence the financial or exchange markets, independently of the reaction of its competitors, or of its clients;
17. Controlling relation: the relationship between an individual or institution and a company, when:
a) One of the following situations occurs:
(i) The person in question holds the majority of voting rights;
(ii) Is a partner in the company and has the right to appoint or dismiss more than half of the board of directors or of the supervisory board;
(iii) Has a controlling influence on the company, by contract or by the articles of the statutes;
(iv)Is a partner and has sole control of the majority of voting rights, by agreement with other partners;
(v) Holds 20% or more of the capital of the company, and exercises effective dominance or they are both under the same management.
b) It is equally considered for the purposes of numbers (i),(ii), and (iv) above, that:
(i) the voting rights to appoint or dismiss a participant are equivalent to the rights of any other dependant company, or one that is in a group relation with the dominant, or any other individual acting on his own but on behalf of the controlling partner or of any other of the above referred companies;
(ii) from the rights listed above we can infer the rights of shares that do not belong to the dominant partner or to any other of the above referred companies, or rights of shares given as guarantee for as long as, in this last situation, such rights are executed in conformity with the instructions received, or the possession of such shares is part of a daily operation of the company which owns them and the voting rights are used in the interest of the entity giving the guarantee;
(iii)For the purposes of lines (i) and (ii) of number 1, from the total voting rights corresponding to the capital of the affiliate company, shall be deducted the voting rights corresponding to the holdings of
this company, or its affiliate, or an individual acting on his own right but on behalf of any of these companies.
18. Residents: for the purposes of this diploma the following are considered resident in national territory, individuals usually resident in the country; institutions or companies with their registered office in the country; affiliates, branch offices, agencies and any other forms of representation in the country of institutions or companies whose registered office is in another country; funds, institutes or public bodies with administrative and financial autonomy, with their registered office in national territory; national citizens who are diplomats, consular representatives or equivalent, who are carrying out their duties abroad, and also the members of their respective families; and, individual nationals whose absence abroad for a period of longer than 90 days and shorter than one year is occasioned by studies or the exercise of public duties.
19. Non-residents: for the purposes of this diploma, are considered non-residents in national territory, individuals who are usually resident abroad; institutions or companies whose registered office is in another country; individuals who have emigrated; individuals who are absent from the country for more than one year; affiliates, branch offices, agencies and any other type of representation in another country of institutions or companies with their registered office in this country; diplomats, consular representatives or equivalent working in national territory, and also members of their respective families.
20. Group of companies: companies colligated among themselves in such a way Company Law so characterizes them, independently of having their registered offices in the country or in another country;
21. Venture capital companies: non-banking financial institutions engaged primarily in the business of supporting and promoting investment and technological innovation in projects, or in companies, through temporary participation in the respective capital, to the extent permitted by law;
22. Factoring companies: non-banking financial institutions engaged exclusively in factoring activities, by which one of the parties (the factor) buys from the other (client), short term credits, resulting from the sale of products or from services to a third party (debtor), to the extent permitted by law;
23. Real estate management & investment companies: non-banking financial institutions engaged primarily in the business of renting property that they either bought or built, and complementary services, including management of rented property belonging to others, to the extent permitted by law;
24. Investment companies: non-banking financial institutions engaged exclusively in the business of dealing in financial operations, namely, investing funds in the medium and long term, buying shares in companies, and subscribing and acquiring securities, to the extent permitted by law;
25. Leasing companies: non-banking financial companies engaged exclusively in the business of negotiating contracts where the lessor agrees, for retribution, to grant to the lessee the temporary use of property, movable or real estate, bought or built by indication of the lessee, to the extent permitted by law;
26. Investment funds management companies: non-banking financial companies engaged exclusively in the business of managing one or more, mutual investment funds in valuables, in accordance with the applicable laws and to the extent permitted by law;
27. Holding companies: non-banking financial companies engaged exclusively in the business of managing a portfolio of stocks and securities, namely company stocks, trying to exert effective control over the company, and seeking to manage the equity of other companies as an indirect way of practicing an economic activity, to the extent permitted by law;
28. Foreign exchange broker companies: non-banking financial companies engaged exclusively in the business of intermediation on the money and foreign exchange markets on behalf of a third party, and associated services, to the extent permitted by law;
29. Mutual Funds companies: non-banking financial companies engaged exclusively in the business of managing mutual funds dedicated to the certification of credits, also designated as guaranteeing of receivables, funds that are independent patrimonies belonging to several individuals, and institutions or
companies, to the extent permitted by law;
30. Providers of payment services: non-banking financial companies authorized to provide payment services in accordance with the Angolan System of Payments Law and additional legislation;
31. Operators of the system of payments or clearing houses: non-banking financial companies which have as their object the management of infrastructures or of central procedures of subsystems and clearings, to the extent permitted by law;
32. Branch Office: the main office in Angola of a financial institution, banking or non-banking, whose registered office is in another country or the main premises abroad, of a financial institution, banking or non-banking, whose registered office is in Angola without being a corporate entity but assuming, directly, wholly or in part, the responsibility for operations inherent to the activity of the company.