The Government plans to amend the Financial Sector (Shareholdings) Act to remove an anomaly that deems associated parties with no direct control in a company to be stakeholders.Under the existing law a person must obtain approval from the Treasurer to hold a stake of more than 15 per cent in a financial sector company.A stake is defined as the aggregate of the direct control interest held by that person and the direct control interest held by associates of that person.Associates are relatives, partners and related companies.Where a person acquires a direct control interest in a financial institution of more than 15 per cent, the associate of the person must also obtain approval to exceed the 15 per cent limit.This requirement holds even if the associate company holds no direct control interest in the financial sector company.The government's view is that this requirement imposes a burden on associates and that in many cases the associates would not be aware of the requirement.Under the new law, a person who does not hold a direct control interest in a financial sector company will be deemed to hold no stake in that company.Treasury issued a draft of the amendment last week and called for submissions, which are due by September 17.