Singapore legislation
Section 44A
Section 44A
Provisions supplementary to sections 43 and 44
(1)
For the purposes of an inspection under section 43 or an investigation under section 44, the bank or subsidiary under inspection or investigation must —
produce its books to the Authority and afford the Authority access to them;
provide such information or facilities as may be required by the Authority to conduct the inspection or investigation; and
procure any person who is in possession of the books or information mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) to produce the books or provide the information to the Authority.
(2)
The books mentioned in subsection (1) must not be required to be produced at such times or at such places as would unduly interfere with the proper conduct of the normal daily business of that bank or subsidiary.
(3)
The Authority may appoint an auditor, other than the auditor appointed by the bank or by the Authority under section 58, to exercise the powers of the Authority under section 43 or 44.
(3A)
The remuneration and expenses of any auditor appointed under subsection (3) must be paid by the bank.
(3B)
The Authority may waive the payment of all or any part of the remuneration and expenses mentioned in subsection (3A).
(4)
Customer information that is obtained by the Authority from a bank incorporated outside Singapore or a foreign‑owned bank incorporated in Singapore during an inspection under section 43 or an investigation under section 44 may be disclosed by the Authority to the parent supervisory authority of the bank where —
the customer information does not consist of deposit information;
the customer information is required by the parent supervisory authority for the sole purpose of carrying out its supervisory functions; and
the parent supervisory authority —
is prohibited by the laws applicable to the parent supervisory authority from disclosing the customer information obtained by it to any other person; or
has given to the Authority such written undertaking, as to the confidentiality of the information obtained, as the Authority may determine.
(5)
Any bank or subsidiary which, without reasonable excuse, contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $100,000 and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $10,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction.
(5A)
Where the offence under subsection (5) is proved to have been committed with the consent of, or to be attributable to any negligence on the part of, an officer of the bank or subsidiary, that officer shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $5,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction.
(6)
In this section, a reference to a parent bank in the definition of “foreign‑owned bank incorporated in Singapore” in section 2(1) is a reference to a bank incorporated outside Singapore of which the foreign‑owned bank is a subsidiary.