La Dolce Vita v Zhang Lan: Discovery of Banker's Books & Banking Secrecy

In La Dolce Vita Fine Dining Company Limited v Zhang Lan and others, the High Court of Singapore addressed the issue of discovery of documents held by a bank concerning the beneficial ownership of a customer's account. La Dolce Vita sought discovery from Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, the bankers of Success Elegant Trading Limited, arguing that the documents were necessary to determine the beneficial owner of the accounts for a receivership application. The court dismissed the appeal but varied the order, allowing discovery of documents that record the identity of the ultimate beneficial owner of the bank accounts, clarifying the scope of banker's books under Singapore law.

1. Case Overview

1.1 Court

General Division of the High Court of the Republic of Singapore

1.2 Outcome

Appeal dismissed; order varied to allow discovery of forms, declarations, or written communications recording the identity of the ultimate beneficial owner of the bank accounts.

1.3 Case Type

Civil

1.4 Judgment Type

Judgment

1.5 Jurisdiction

Singapore

1.6 Description

Singapore court case concerning the scope of discovery of banker's books and the limits of banking secrecy, particularly regarding beneficial ownership information.

1.7 Decision Date

20 April 2022

2. Parties and Outcomes

Party Name	Role	Type	Outcome	Outcome Type	Counsels
Zhang Lan	Defendant	Individual	Unknown	Neutral	Joshua Tan Ming En of Invictus Law Corporation
La Dolce Vita Fine Dining Company Limited	Plaintiff	Corporation	Appeal dismissed in part	Partial	Angela Phoon Yan Ling of Oon & Bazul LLP Han Guangyuan of Oon & Bazul LLP Keith of Oon & Bazul LLP
Success Elegant Trading Limited	Defendant	Corporation	Appeal dismissed	Lost	Phoon Wuei of TSMP Law Corporation Tan Shi Ying, Crystal of TSMP Law Corporation Koh Li Qun of TSMP Law Corporation Kelvin (Xu Liqun) of TSMP Law Corporation
Grand Lan Holdings Group (BVI) Limited	Defendant	Corporation	Unknown	Neutral
Qiao Jiang Lan Development Limited	Defendant	Corporation	Unknown	Neutral

3. Judges

Judge Name	Title	Delivered Judgment
Philip Jeyaretnam	Judge of the High Court	Yes

4. Counsels

Counsel Name	Organization
Joshua Tan Ming En	Invictus Law Corporation
Angela Phoon Yan Ling	Oon & Bazul LLP
Han Guangyuan	Oon & Bazul LLP
Keith	Oon & Bazul LLP
Phoon Wuei	TSMP Law Corporation
Tan Shi Ying, Crystal	TSMP Law Corporation
Koh Li Qun	TSMP Law Corporation
Kelvin (Xu Liqun)	TSMP Law Corporation

4. Facts

LDV is a judgment creditor of Zhang Lan, Grand Lan Holdings Group, and Qiao Jiang Lan Development Limited under a Hong Kong judgment.
LDV sought to register the HK Judgment in Singapore and obtained a registration order.
SETL intervened as a defendant because LDV sought to appoint receivers for bank accounts held in SETL's name.
LDV's receivership application is based on the claim that the monies in SETL's bank accounts are beneficially owned by Zhang Lan.
A prior freezing order against Zhang Lan led CS and DB to freeze SETL's bank accounts, suggesting they believed Zhang Lan was the beneficial owner.
LDV sought discovery from CS and DB regarding the beneficial ownership of the bank accounts.
CS and DB did not oppose the discovery application, leaving it to the court to decide.

5. Formal Citations

La Dolce Vita Fine Dining Company Ltd v Zhang Lan and others, Originating Summons No 1139 of 2020 (Registrar’s Appeal No 30 of 2022), [2022] SGHC 89

6. Timeline

Date	Event
2015-03-02	Freezing order obtained in Singapore against Mdm Zhang.
2019-04-28	Partial Award No. 0591 rendered by the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission.
2020-05-20	Hong Kong judgment obtained by LDV against Zhang Lan, Grand Lan Holdings Group, and Qiao Jiang Lan Development Limited.
2020-11-10	Originating summons commenced by LDV.
2020-11-11	Registration order obtained by LDV.
2021-06-09	Summons to Appoint Receiver dated.
2021-09-16	Success Elegant Trading Limited added as a defendant by consent.
2022-02-17	Hearing date.
2022-03-14	Hearing date.
2022-04-21	Judgment reserved.

7. Legal Issues

Scope of Discovery of Banker's Books
- Outcome: The court held that the bank's record of the beneficial owner of an account is a record of a transactional fact and therefore forms part of its transactional records, making it an entry in a banker's book.
- Category: Procedural
- Sub-Issues:
  - Definition of 'entries in a banker's book'
  - Inclusion of beneficial ownership information
Limits of Banking Secrecy
- Outcome: The court clarified that the exceptions to banking secrecy listed in the Third Schedule of the Banking Act are comprehensive, leaving no room for common law exceptions.
- Category: Substantive
- Sub-Issues:
  - Exceptions to banking secrecy
  - Disclosure necessary for compliance with a court order

8. Remedies Sought

Registration of Foreign Judgment
Appointment of Receivers

9. Cause of Actions

Enforcement of Foreign Judgment
Application for Receivership

10. Practice Areas

Commercial Litigation
Banking Litigation

11. Industries

Finance

12. Cited Cases

Case Name	Court	Affirmed	Citation	Jurisdiction	Significance
La Dolce Vita Fine Dining Co Ltd and another v Deutsch Bank AG and another and another matter	High Court	Yes	[2016] SGHCR 3	Singapore	Cited for the pre-action discovery order against CS and DB regarding account opening forms.
Success Elegant Trading Ltd v La Dolce Vita Fine Dining Co Ltd and others and another appeal	High Court	Yes	[2016] 4 SLR 1392	Singapore	Cited for upholding the discovery order of account opening forms and related documents.
Wee Soon Kim Anthony v UBS AG	Court of Appeal	Yes	[2003] 2 SLR(R) 91	Singapore	Leading case on what constitutes a banker’s book, defining it as any form of permanent record maintained by a bank in relation to customer transactions.
Susilawati v American Express Bank Ltd	Court of Appeal	Yes	[2009] 2 SLR(R) 737	Singapore	Cited for the principle that the duty of confidentiality between banker and customer is exclusively governed by s 47 of the Banking Act.
Tey Por Yee & Anor v Protasco Bhd and other appeals	Court of Appeal (Putrajaya)	Yes	[2021] 1 MLJ 76	Malaysia	Discussed the scope of banker's books in Malaysian law.
Protasco Bhd v PT Anglo Slavic Utama and others	High Court	Yes	[2019] 9 MLJ 417	Malaysia	Discussed the categories of documents falling within the definition of 'banker's books'.
Meng v HSBC Bank Plc and others	English High Court	Yes	[2021] EWHC 342 (QB)	England and Wales	Discussed the scope of banker's books and rejected the argument that it includes records maintained for regulatory compliance.
PP v Tang You Liang Andruew and another	Singapore District Court	Yes	[2021] SGDC 266	Singapore	Cited in relation to MAS Notice 626 and the requirement for banks to identify beneficial owners to combat money laundering.

13. Applicable Rules

Rule Name
No applicable rules

14. Applicable Statutes

Statute Name	Jurisdiction
Banking Act 1970	Singapore
Evidence Act 1893	Singapore

15. Key Terms and Keywords

15.1 Key Terms

Banker's Books
Banking Secrecy
Beneficial Ownership
Discovery
Transactional Record
Freezing Order
Receivership

15.2 Keywords

banking secrecy
banker's books
discovery
beneficial ownership
Singapore
receivership

17. Areas of Law

Area Name	Relevance Score
Discovery of documents	90
Banking Law	80
Civil Practice	75
Evidence	60

16. Subjects

Banking
Civil Procedure
Discovery