Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Section 27B implements a recommendation of the review group on auditing 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 it to the Central Bank. That is the same as the commentary on the last amendment.

Subsection (4) lists the financial services legislation under which an auditor has a duty to report to the bank in circumstances specified in the legislation. The list includes section 33 of the Investment Intermediaries Act 1995, which deals with auditors and their duties regarding investment business firms which are not incorporated bodies, such as brokers. This amendment would limit the application of this provision to subsection (3) only, which deals with the duty of an auditor to report to the regulator in certain circumstances. The Minister is satisfied that the duty to report should extend to the entire section, including, for example, section 7, which also imposes a duty on the auditor to report to the regulator.