Social Welfare And Pensions (No. 2) Act 2009

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Information to be furnished by financial institutions.

17.— The Principal Act is amended by inserting the following sections after section 250:

“Information to be furnished by financial institutions.

250A.— (1) In this section—

‘ authorised officer ’ means an officer appointed by the Minister under section 250B to exercise the powers conferred on him or her by and under this section;

‘ books, records or other documents ’ includes—

(a) any records used in the business of a financial institution, or used in the transfer department of a financial institution acting as registrar of securities, whether—

(i) comprised in bound volume, loose-leaf binders or other loose-leaf filing system, loose-leaf ledger sheets, pages, folios or cards, or

(ii) kept on microfilm, magnetic tape or in any non-legible form (by the use of electronics or otherwise) which is capable of being reproduced in a legible form,

(b) every electronic or other automatic means, if any, by which any such thing in non-legible form is capable of being reproduced,

(c) documents in manuscript, documents which are typed, printed, stencilled or created by any other mechanical or partly mechanical process in use from time to time and documents which are produced by any photographic or photostatic process, and

(d) correspondence and records of other communications between a financial institution and its customers;

‘ financial institution ’ means—

(a) a person who holds or has held a licence under section 9 of the Central Bank Act 1971 , or a person who holds or has held a licence or other similar authorisation under the law of any other Member State which corresponds to a licence granted under that section,

(b) a person referred to in section 7 (4) of the Central Bank Act 1971 , or

(c) a credit institution (within the meaning of the European Communities (Licensing and Supervision of Credit Institutions) Regulations 1992 ( S.I. No. 395 of 1992 )) which has been authorised by the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland to carry on business of a credit institution in accordance with the provisions of the supervisory enactments (within the meaning of those Regulations).

(2) Notwithstanding any obligation as to secrecy or other restriction upon disclosure of information imposed by or under statute or otherwise, and subject to this section, an authorised officer, for the purpose of ensuring compliance with this Act, who has reasonable grounds to believe that there has been a contravention of this Act by a claimant or beneficiary may serve on a financial institution a notice in writing requiring the financial institution, within such period as may be specified in the notice, not being less than 30 days from the date of the service of the notice to do either or both of the following:

(a) to make available for inspection by the authorised officer such books, records, or other documents specified in the notice as are in the power, possession or procurement of the financial institution and as contain, or may, in the opinion of the authorised officer formed on reasonable grounds, contain information relevant to such contravention;

(b) to furnish to the authorised officer, in writing or otherwise, such information, explanations and particulars specified in the notice as the authorised officer may reasonably require, being information, explanations and particulars that are relevant to such contravention.

(3) Where, in compliance with the requirements of a notice under subsection (2), a financial institution makes available for inspection by an authorised officer, books, records or other documents, it shall afford the authorised officer reasonable assistance, including information, explanations and particulars, in relation to the use of all the electronic or other automatic means, if any, by which the books, records or other documents, in so far as they are in a non-legible form, are capable of being reproduced in a legible form and any data equipment or any associated apparatus or material.

(4) An authorised officer shall not serve a notice on a financial institution under subsection (2)—

(a) without the consent in writing of a person designated by the Minister under this section, and

(b) without having reasonable grounds to believe that the financial institution is likely to have information relevant to the claimant or beneficiary concerned and the contravention referred to in subsection (2).

(5) A notice served under subsection (2) shall name the claimant or beneficiary in respect of whom the authorised officer is enquiring.

(6) Where an authorised officer serves a notice under subsection (2), the authorised officer shall give the claimant or beneficiary concerned a copy of the notice.

(7) Where, in compliance with a notice served under subsection (2), a financial institution makes books, records or other documents available for inspection by an authorised officer, the authorised officer may make extracts from or copies of all or any part of the books, records or other documents.

(8) The Minister may designate in writing such and so many officers of the Minister as the Minister considers appropriate to consent to the service of a notice under this section.

(9) Where a notice—

(a) is to be served on a financial institution under this section it may be served—

(i) by leaving it at or sending it by post to the registered office of the body corporate,

(ii) by leaving it at or sending it by post to any place in the State at which the body corporate conducts its business, or

(iii) by sending it by post to any person who is a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the financial institution or is purporting to act in any such capacity, at the place where that person resides,

and

(b) is to be given to a claimant or beneficiary it shall be addressed to the person concerned by name and may be sent or given—

(i) by delivering it to the person,

(ii) by leaving it at the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case where an address for service has been furnished, at that address, or

(iii) by sending it by post in a prepaid registered letter to the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case where an address for service has been furnished, to that address.

(10) A person who fails or refuses to comply with a notice under subsection (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €20,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or both.

Authorised officers.

250B.— (1) The Minister may appoint such and so many officers of the Minister as the Minister considers appropriate to be authorised officers for the purposes of section 250A.

(2) An authorised officer appointed under this section shall be furnished with a certificate of his or her appointment by the Minister.

(3) When exercising a power conferred on him or her by this section, an authorised officer shall, if requested by a person thereby affected, produce the certificate of his or her appointment to that person.

(4) An appointment under this section shall cease when—

(a) the Minister revokes the appointment,

(b) the person ceases to be an officer of the Minister, or

(c) if it is made for a fixed period, on the expiry of that period.”.