Financial Services and Markets Act 2000

343 Information given by auditor or actuary to the Authority: persons with close links

(1) This section applies to a person who—

(a) is, or has been, an auditor of an authorised person appointed under or as a result of a statutory provision; and

(b) is, or has been, an auditor of a person (“CL”) who has close links with the authorised person.

(2) This section also applies to a person who—

(a) is, or has been, an actuary acting for an authorised person and appointed under or as a result of a statutory provision; and

(b) is, or has been, an actuary acting for a person (“CL”) who has close links with the authorised person.

(3) An auditor or actuary does not contravene any duty to which he is subject merely because he gives to the Authority—

(a) information on a matter concerning the authorised person of which he has, or had, become aware in his capacity as auditor of, or actuary acting for, CL, or

(b) his opinion on such a matter,

if he is acting in good faith and he reasonably believes that the information or opinion is relevant to any functions of the Authority.

(4) Subsection (3) applies whether or not the auditor or actuary is responding to a request from the Authority.

(5) The Treasury may make regulations prescribing circumstances in which an auditor or actuary must communicate matters to the Authority as mentioned in subsection (3).

(6) It is the duty of an auditor or actuary to whom any such regulations apply to communicate a matter to the Authority in the circumstances prescribed by the regulations.

(7) The matters to be communicated to the Authority in accordance with the regulations may include matters relating to persons other than the authorised person concerned.

(8) CL has close links with the authorised person concerned (“A”) if CL is—

(a) a parent undertaking of A;

(b) a subsidiary undertaking of A;

(c) a parent undertaking of a subsidiary undertaking of A; or

(d) a subsidiary undertaking of a parent undertaking of A.

(9) “Subsidiary undertaking” includes all the instances mentioned in Article 1(1) and (2) of the Seventh Company Law Directive in which an entity may be a subsidiary of an undertaking.