Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Section 27B implements a recommendation of the review group on auditing, namely that the external auditors of a financial institution should provide an annual positive statement to the Central Bank on whether anything has come to their attention which gives rise to a legislative duty to report to the Central Bank. Subsection (2)(a) provides that within three months of the end of the financial year of a financial services provider, the auditor must provide a written report to the bank stating whether circumstances have arisen which required the auditor to report a matter to the bank under a prescribed enactment and what those circumstances are.

If this amendment were accepted it would not implement the recommendations of the review group on auditing and that would not be acceptable to the Minister. The amendment would not implement the recommendation requiring a positive statement from the auditor that no statutory duty to report arose during the financial year.