Credit Union and Co-operation with Overseas Regulators Act 2012

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Conflicts of interest.

25.— The Principal Act is amended by substituting the following for section 69:

“69.— (1) Officers of a credit union, including the members of its board of directors, shall at all times ensure that individually, and collectively when acting in that capacity, they act in a manner free from conflicts of interest.

(2) The board of directors of a credit union shall approve and document in writing a policy for identifying, managing and resolving conflicts of interest and which policy will apply to all officers of a credit union.

(3) Every officer of a credit union shall identify all potential conflicts between his or her own interests and the interests of the credit union and shall take all necessary steps to ensure his or her role in the credit union is not influenced by any other interest.

(4) An officer of a credit union shall not, in any manner, directly or indirectly, participate in the consideration or determination of any matter which he or she, or a body with which he or she is connected, has a pecuniary interest or other conflict of interest or where a reasonably perceived conflict of interest exists and, accordingly, an officer shall withdraw from any meeting or part of the meeting during which such a matter is to be considered or determined.

(5) If, apart from this section, the withdrawal of an officer from a meeting in pursuance of subsection (4) would cause the meeting to become inquorate, the remaining members shall be treated as constituting a quorum while the matter in question is being considered or determined.

(6) An officer of a credit union who is or becomes interested, directly or indirectly, in—

(a) a contract that is made or proposed to be made by the credit union or proposed to be amended by the credit union,

(b) any matter prescribed by the Bank for the purposes of this section, or

(c) any other matter identified by the board of directors for the purpose of this section,

then the officer shall declare the nature of his or her interest—

(i) where that officer is the chair of the board of directors, in writing to the board of directors and served on the secretary,

(ii) where that officer is the secretary, in writing to the board of directors and served on the chair,

(iii) where that officer is any other member of the board of directors, in writing to the board of directors and served on the secretary and the chair,

(iv) where that officer is the manager, in writing to the board of directors and served on the secretary, or

(v) in any other case, in writing to the board of directors and the manager and served on the secretary,

as soon as possible after the contract is so made or proposed to be made or so proposed to be amended or, as the case may be, after he or she becomes so interested.

(7) In the case of a declaration under subsection (6) by a member of the board of directors—

(a) where the contract or matter concerned comes before a meeting of the board, the declaration shall also be made in person by the member (if present) at the meeting at which the contract or matter is to be considered, and

(b) in every other case, the secretary shall read the declaration made in writing under paragraph (i) or (ii) (as the case may be) of subsection (6) at the next meeting of the board of directors held after service of that declaration.

(8) Subject to subsection (9), for the purposes of this section, a general notice in writing which is served by an officer of the credit union on the appropriate person to whom paragraph (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) or (v) of subsection (6) would relate if a declaration were served under that subsection and which is to the effect that—

(a) the officer is connected (whether as member, director, employee or otherwise) with a specified body and is regarded as interested in any contract, or other matter to which subsection (6) relates, which, after the date of the notice, may be made with or relate to that body; or

(b) the officer is to be regarded as interested in any contract, or other matter to which subsection (6) relates, which, after the date of the notice, may be made with or relate to a specified person who is connected with him or her,

shall be deemed to be a sufficient declaration of interest in relation to any such contract or other matter.

(9) In the case of a general notice under subsection (8) and to which paragraph (i), (ii) or (iii) of subsection (6) relates, notice under subsection (8) may be given—

(a) by the director concerned in person at a meeting of the board of directors, or

(b) where the director concerned is the chair, in accordance with paragraph (i) of subsection (6) or where the director concerned is the secretary, in accordance with paragraph (ii) of that subsection, or, where the director concerned is any other director, in accordance with paragraph (iii) of that subsection,

and where a notice is given as mentioned in paragraph (b), the secretary shall read the notice at the next meeting of the board of directors.

(10) For the purposes of this section—

(a) this section applies in relation to a transaction, arrangement or proposal in the same manner as it applies in relation to a contract, and

(b) an officer of a credit union shall be regarded as connected with a particular body if the officer has an interest in the body, whether directly or indirectly and whether as a member, director, employee, shareholder or otherwise.

(11) Within 3 working days after a declaration or notice under this section is made or given, the secretary or manager (as the case may be) of the credit union concerned shall cause a copy of the declaration or notice to be entered in a register kept for that purpose, and that register shall—

(a) be open for inspection without charge by any officer, auditor or member of the credit union or the internal audit function, and

(b) be available at every general meeting of the credit union and, if adequate notice in advance is given to the secretary by any director, at any meeting of the board of directors.

(12) In the case of a member of the board of directors of a credit union, where recurring or ongoing conflicts of interest arise for the member, then—

(a) where the member concerned is the chair, seek formal or informal guidance from some or all of the other directors, and

(b) where the member concerned is not the chair, seek formal or informal guidance from the chair,

as to whether it is appropriate to resign and, following the consideration of such guidance by the member concerned, he or she shall resign as a member of the board of the credit union if he or she considers it appropriate to do so in the circumstances.”.