The Bank Accounts Directive (Miscellaneous Banks) Regulations 1991

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

1.  These Regulations implement Council Directive 86/635/EEC Official Journal No L372 of 31.12.1986 pages 1-17 on the Annual Accounts and Consolidated Accounts of Banks and Other Financial Institutions, in so far as that Directive is applicable to bodies corporate or unincorporate other than (a) bodies corporate to which Part VII of the Companies Act 1985 (“the 1985 Act”) applies and (b) building societies. (The Companies Act 1985 (Bank Accounts) Regulations 1991 (S.I. 1991/2705) implement Directive 86/635/EEC in respect of bodies corporate to which Part VII of the 1985 Act applies. Separate Regulations will deal with building societies.)

2.  The scope of application of the Regulations is set out in Regulation 3. They apply, in effect, to certain institutions authorised under the Banking Act 1987 to carry on a deposit taking business which were incorporated or formed by or under Public General Acts which predate modern legislation governing the legal forms in which business may be carried on.

3.  The directors of bodies of persons to which the Regulations apply are required by Regulation 4 to prepare accounts and a directors' report, and to obtain an auditors' report on such accounts, in accordance with the provisions of Part VII of the 1985 Act which are applicable to banking companies and groups, subject to certain modifications set out in the Schedule to the Regulations. The Schedule disapplies requirements of Part VII which do not derive from the European Community Directives on Accounts.

4

. Regulation 5 requires the documents prepared under Regulation 4 to be made available for inspection without charge at the body’s principal place of business within Great Britain; the documents are also to be those to which section 45 of the Banking Act 1987 applies. That section requires the accounts of an institution authorised under that Act to be open to inspection at any of its branches.

5.  Regulations 6 and 7 impose criminal penalties for failure to comply with the Regulations.

6.  Regulation 8 permits the directors of a body of persons to which the Regulations apply not to prepare accounts and a directors' report (and obtain an auditors' report on the accounts)under the Regulations for financial years commencing on a date prior to 23rd December 1992. This transitional provision mirrors the transitional provision contained in the Companies Act 1985 (Bank Accounts) Regulations 1991.