Banking Act 1970 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 7 · Powers of Control Over Banks, Etc.
44A. Provisions supplementary to sections 43 and 44
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For the purposes of an inspection under section 43 or an investigation under section 44, the bank or subsidiary under inspection or investigation must —
bank
“bank” means any company which holds a valid bank licence under section 7 or 79;
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.
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.
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.
The remuneration and expenses of any auditor appointed under subsection (3) must be paid by the bank.
The Authority may waive the payment of all or any part of the remuneration and expenses mentioned in subsection (3A).
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 —
customer information
“customer information”, in relation to a bank, means —(a)any information relating to, or any particulars of, an account of a customer of the bank, whether the account is in respect of a loan, investment or any other type of transaction, but does not include any information that is not referable to any named customer or group of named customers; or(b)deposit information;
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.
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.
subsidiary
“subsidiary” has the meaning given by section 5 of the Companies Act 1967;
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.
officer
“officer”, in relation to a corporation, includes —(a)a director, secretary or an employee of the corporation;(b)a receiver or manager of any part of the undertaking of the corporation appointed under a power contained in any instrument; and(c)the liquidator of the corporation appointed in a voluntary winding up;
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.
parent bank
“parent bank”, in relation to a bank or merchant bank, means a financial institution which is able to exercise a significant influence over the direction and management of the bank or merchant bank (as the case may be) or which has a controlling interest in the bank or merchant bank (as the case may be);