The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Communications by Auditors) Regulations 2001

Made17th July 2001

Laid before Parliament18th July 2001

Coming into forcein accordance with regulation 1

The Treasury, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by sections 342(5), 343(5) and 428(3) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 20001, hereby make the following Regulations:C1

Annotations:

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

Regulations applied (with modifications) (29.6.2017 for specified purposes, 3.7.2017 for specified purposes, 31.7.2017 for specified purposes, 3.1.2018 in so far as not already in force) by The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Markets in Financial Instruments) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/701), reg. 1, Sch. 1 para. 29 (with reg. 7)

Citation, commencement and interpretationI21

1

These Regulations may be cited as the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Communications by Auditors) Regulations 2001 and come into force on the day on which section 19 of the Act (the general prohibition) comes into force.

2

In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000;
“the person concerned” means—
1. a
  in relation to an auditor of an authorised person F4, recognised investment exchange or recognised clearing house, that authorised person F4, recognised investment exchange or recognised clearing house;
2. b
  in relation to an auditor of a person who has close links (within the meaning of section 343 of the Act) with an authorised person F4, recognised investment exchange or recognised clearing house, that authorised person F4, recognised investment exchange or recognised clearing house;
“relevant requirement” means—
1. a
  a requirement which is imposed by or under any provision of the Act other than Part VI (listing) and which relates to authorisation under the Act (whether by way of permission under Part IV of the Act or otherwise) or to the carrying on of any regulated activity; F5...
2. aa
  F6a requirement which is a relevant requirement within the meaning of section 312E(2) or (3) of the Act; or
3. b
  a requirement which is imposed by or under any other Act and whose contravention constitutes an offence which the F7FCA, the PRA or the Bank of England as appropriate has power to prosecute under the Act2.

Circumstances in which an auditor is to communicateI12

1

An auditor to whom section 342 or 343 of the Act applies must communicate to the F8FCA, the PRA or, the Bank of England information on, or his opinion on, matters mentioned in section 342(3)(a) or 343(3)(a) of the Act (matters of which he has, or had, become aware in his capacity as auditor of an authorised person F9, recognised investment exchange or recognised clearing house or as auditor of a person who has close links with an authorised person F9, recognised investment exchange or recognised clearing house) in the following circumstances.

2

The circumstances are that—

a

the auditor reasonably believes that, as regards the person concerned—

i

there is or has been, or may be or may have been, a contravention of any relevant requirement that applies to the person concerned; and

ii

that contravention may be of material significance to F10the FCA, the PRA or the Bank of England in determining whether to exercise, in relation to the person concerned, any functions conferred on F11that regulator by or under any provision of the Act other than Part VI;

b

the auditor reasonably believes that the information on, or his opinion on, those matters may be of material significance to F12the FCA, the PRA or the Bank of England in determining whether the person concerned satisfies and will continue to satisfy the threshold conditions F13or, in the case of a recognised investment exchange or recognised clearing house, the requirements set out in relation to recognised investment exchanges or (as the case may be) recognised clearing houses under section 286 of the Act (qualifications for recognition);

c

the auditor reasonably believes that the person concerned is not, may not be or may cease to be a going concern;

d

the auditor is precluded from stating in his report that the annual accounts or, where they are required to be made by any of the following provisions, other financial reports of the person concerned—

i

have been properly prepared in accordance with F1the Companies Act 2006 or, where applicable, give a true and fair view of the matters referred to in section F2section 495(3)(a) of that Act;

ii

have been prepared so as to conform with the requirements of Part VIII of the Building Societies Act 19864 and the regulations made under it or, where applicable, give a true and fair view of the matters referred to in subsection (4) or (7) of section 78 of that Act5;

iii

have been prepared so as to conform with the Friendly Societies Act 19926 and the regulations made under it or, where applicable, give a true and fair view of the matters referred to in section 73(5) of that Act;

iv

have been prepared so as to conform with the requirements of the Friendly and Industrial and Provident Societies Act 19687 or, where applicable, give a true and fair view of the matters referred to in section 9(2) and (3) of that Act; or

v

have been prepared so as to conform with the requirements of rules made under the Act where the auditor is, by rules made under section 340 of the Act, required to make such a statement;

as the case may be; or

e

where applicable, the auditor is required to state in his report in relation to the person concerned any of the facts referred to in F3subsection (2), (3) or (5) of section 498 of the Companies Act 2006.

Anne McGuireNick AingerTwo of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury17th July 2001

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations apply to any person who is, or has been, an auditor of a person authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“the Act”) and who has been appointed pursuant to a statutory provision. Such an auditor is obliged to communicate to the Financial Services Authority (“the Authority”) information on matters (or his opinion on matters) of which he has become aware in his capacity as an auditor. The obligation also applies to matters of which such an auditor has become aware in his capacity as auditor of a person who has “close links” (as defined in section 343(8) of the Act) with an authorised person.

Regulation 2 sets out the circumstances in which the obligation applies. An auditor must communicate matters to the Authority if he reasonably believes that, as regards the authorised person concerned, there has been or may be a contravention of any relevant requirement (as defined in regulation 1) that applies to that person which may be of material significance to the Authority in determining whether to exercise any of the functions conferred on the Authority by or under the Act (other than listing functions). The obligation to communicate also applies where the auditor reasonably believes that the matters may be of material significance to the Authority in determining whether the person satisfies and will continue to satisfy the conditions set out in Schedule 6 to the Act (“the threshold conditions”). The obligation also applies where the auditor reasonably believes that the authorised person concerned is not, may not be or may cease to be a going concern. An auditor is also obliged to communicate to the Authority where he is precluded from stating in his report on the annual accounts, or, where required by an enactment which is specified in regulation 2(2)(d), any other financial reports, that they conform with the applicable legislation or where he is required by the enactment specified in regulation 2(2)(e) to state certain facts in his report.

These Regulations give effect, in part, to European Parliament and Council Directive 95/26/EC (OJNo. L168, 18.7.1995, p.7) amending Directives 73/239/EEC and 92/49/EEC in the field of non-life insurance, Directives 79/267/EEC and 92/96/EEC in the field of life assurance, Directive 93/22/EEC in the field of investment firms and Directive 85/611/EEC in the field of undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) with a view to reinforcing prudential supervision. These Regulations also give effect, in part, to Directive 2000/12/EC (OJNo. L126, 26.5.2000, p.1) relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions.