Section 53. Branch register of members

(1) A company having a share capital may cause to be kept a branch register of members which shall be deemed to be part of the company’s register of members in any place outside Malaysia.

(2) The company shall lodge with the Registrar—

(a) a notice of the address of the office where any branch register is kept and of any change in its address; and

(b) a notice of the discontinuance of the office where the branch register is kept, if it is discontinued,

within thirty days from the opening of the office or of the change or discontinuance, as the case may be.

(3) A branch register shall be kept in the same manner in which the principal register is required to be kept.

(4) The company shall transmit a copy of every entry in its branch register to the office at which its principal register is kept within fourteen days from the entry is made and shall cause to be kept a duly updated copy of its branch register at that office.

(5) Subject to this section, with respect to the copy register, the shares registered in a branch register shall be distinguished from the shares registered in the principal register and no transaction with respect to any shares registered in a branch register shall be registered during the continuance of that registration.

(6) Where the company discontinue a branch register, all entries in that register shall be transferred to some other branch register kept by the company in the same place or to the principal register.

(7) If by virtue of the law in force in any other country, any corporation incorporated under that law keeps a branch register of its members in Malaysia, the Minister may by order declare that the provisions of this Act relating to inspection, place of keeping and rectification of registers of members shall, subject to any modifications specified in the order, apply accordingly to such branch register.

(8) The company and every officer who contravene this section and every person who, in accordance with paragraph 54(1)(b) has arranged to make up the principal register commit an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding ten thousand ringgit and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding five hundred ringgit for each day during which the offence continues after conviction.