Regulatory Alerts2021-06-29
Added
Notice 1017 Privacy of Customer Information – Conditions for Disclosure of Customer Information by Auditors
The Monetary Authority of Singapore issued Notice 1017 to establish the specific conditions under which auditors may disclose customer information to Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority employees. Auditors are prohibited from sharing such data unless the disclosure is strictly for conducting practice reviews of their audit work, limited to information originally provided by the merchant bank, and preceded by written notification from ACRA. This regulatory framework ensures that customer privacy is maintained while facilitating necessary regulatory oversight of audit practices.
MAS NOTICE 1017 29 June 2021 NOTICE TO MERCHANT BANKS BANKING ACT, CAP. 19 PRIVACY OF CUSTOMER INFORMATION – CONDITIONS FOR DISCLOSURE OF CUSTOMER INFORMATION BY AUDITORS This Notice is issued pursuant to sub-paragraph (b) of the Third Column of item 1 of Part II of the Third Schedule to the Banking Act (Cap. 19) (the “Act”) as applied by section 55ZI of the Act and sets out the conditions which an auditor must comply with before disclosing any customer information to an employee of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (“ACRA”) referred to in sub-paragraph (b)(iii) of the Second Column of item 1 of Part II of the Third Schedule to the Act as applied by section 55ZI of the Act . 2 For the purpose of this Notice— “customer” and “customer information” have the same meanings as in section 40A of the Act as applied by section 55ZJ of the Act; and “practice review” has the same meaning as in Part III of the Third Schedule to the Act as applied by section 55ZI of the Act. 3 The expressions used in this Notice shall, except where expressly defined in this Notice or where the context otherwise requires, have the same meanings as in the Act. 4 An auditor referred to in sub-paragraph (a)(iv) of the Second Column of item 1 of Part II of the Third Schedule to the Act as applied by section 55ZI of the Act must not disclose any customer information to an employee of ACRA referred to in sub-paragraph (b)(iii) of the Second Column of item 1 of Part II of the Third Schedule to the Act as applied by section 55ZI of the Act, unless– (a) the disclosure is for the sole purpose of enabling the employee of ACRA to carry out a practice review of the professional work of the auditor in respect of his or her audit of the merchant bank, under Part V of the Accountants Act(“Sole Purpose”); (b) the auditor only discloses such customer information which the merchant bank had disclosed to the auditor for the auditor to audit its financial statements; and (c) ACRA has given to the auditor a written notification that the access to customer information is required by its employees for the Sole Purpose.
5 This Notice takes effect on 1 July 2021.