exercised in specific areas. Before submitting the report to the Governor in Council, he would seek advice from the responsible, experienced and
representative Banking Advisory Committee and the Deposit-taking Companies Advisory Committee, which will continue to be the advisory bodies under the Bill. They advise, of course, only on general principles. Issues relating specifically to individual authorized institutions quite properly do not fall within their remit. If, as has recently been suggested, they were to do so, serious conflicts of interest would arise when members were made privy to highly confidential information relating to their competitors. It must also be recalled that major policies originate
from the Governor in Council. They are not made by advisory committees,
who make recommendations only.
Audit
The second area relates to audit. We have consulted closely with
the Society of Accountants. They have been very helpful. There is a
common appreciation of the respective roles of the auditor and supervisor,
and how these separate roles come together to enable problems to be
detected before it is too late. To this end, the Bill provides for any of the
three parties - managment, Commissioner, auditor to call a tripartite meeting to discuss matters relating to the institution, and for the meeting
to be held notwithstanding non-attendance by any one of the three parties.
To deal with weaknesses in audit, the Commissioner may in future
refer to the Disciplinary Committee of the Society of Accountants any
cases of negligence or serious misconduct by the auditor. He cannot do so at present because the strict secrecy provisions in the two existing
Ordinances bar him from passing the necessary information to the Disciplinary Committee.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.