(g) the opinion of the Superintendent regarding the extent to which the proposed corporate structure of the amalgamated bank and its affiliates may affect the supervision and regulation of the amalgamated bank, having regard to
	(i) the nature and extent of the proposed financial services activities to be carried out by the amalgamated bank and its affiliates, and
	(ii) the nature and degree of supervision and regulation applying to the proposed financial services activities to be carried out by the affiliates of the amalgamated bank; and
	(h) the best interests of the financial system in Canada.
	86. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 229:
Court enforcement	229.1 (1) If a bank or any director, officer, employee or agent of a bank is contravening or has failed to comply with any term or condition made in respect of the issuance of letters patent of amalgamation, the Minister may, in addition to any other action that may be taken under this Act, apply to a court for an order directing the bank or the director, officer, employee or agent to comply with the term or condition, cease the contravention or do any thing that is required to be done, and on the application the court may so order and make any other order it thinks fit.
Appeal	(2) An appeal from an order of a court under this section lies in the same manner as, and to the same court to which, an appeal may be taken from any other order of the court.
1999, c. 28, s. 14	87. Subsection 230(1) of the Act is amended by adding the word ``and'' at the end of paragraph (g) and by repealing paragraph (h).
	88. (1) Section 239 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (5):
Electronic access	(5.1) A bank may make the information contained in records referred to in subsection 238(1) available to persons by any system of mechanical or electronic data processing or any other information storage device that is capable of reproducing the records in intelligible written form within a reasonable time.
	(2) Subsection 239(6) of the French version of the Act is replaced by the following:
Exemplaires	(6) Les actionnaires peuvent sur demande et sans frais, une fois par année civile, obtenir un exemplaire des règlements administratifs de la banque.
	89. Subsection 245(1) of the Act is replaced by the following:
Location and processing of information	245. (1) Subject to subsection (3), a bank shall maintain and process in Canada any information or data relating to the preparation and maintenance of the records referred to in section 238 unless the Superintendent has, subject to any terms and conditions that the Superintendent considers appropriate, exempted the bank from the application of this section.
	90. Subsection 248(3) of the Act is replaced by the following:
Application of certain provisions	(3) Subsections 239(5) and (5.1) and sections 240 and 242 to 245 apply, with any modifications that the circumstances require, in respect of a central securities register.
	91. Section 307 of the Act is replaced by the following:
Financial year	307. (1) The financial year of a bank ends, at the election of the bank in its by-laws, on the expiration of the thirty-first day of October or the thirty-first day of December in each year.
First financial year	(2) If a bank, after the first day of July in any year, obtains an order approving the commencement and carrying on of business, the first financial year of the bank ends, at the election of the bank in its by-laws, on the expiration of the thirty-first day of October or the thirty-first day of December in the next calendar year.
Exception	(3) Despite subsection (1), the financial year of a bank named in Schedule I as that Schedule read immediately before the day section 184 of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act comes into force ends on the expiration of the thirty-first day of October in each year unless the bank elects in its by-laws to have its financial year end on the thirty-first day of December in each year.
	92. (1) The portion of paragraph 308(3)(a) of the Act before subparagraph (i) is replaced by the following:
	(a) a list of the subsidiaries of the bank, other than subsidiaries that are not required to be listed by the regulations and subsidiaries acquired pursuant to section 472 or pursuant to a realization of security in accordance with section 473 and which the bank would not otherwise be permitted to hold, showing, with respect to each subsidiary,
	(2) Section 308 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (4):
Regulations	(5) The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting subsidiaries that are not required to be listed for the purposes of paragraph (3)(a).
1997, c. 15, s. 35	93. Section 312 of the Act is replaced by the following:
Copy to Superinten- dent	312. (1) Subject to subsection (2), a bank shall send to the Superintendent a copy of the documents referred to in subsections 308(1) and (3) not later than twenty-one days before the date of each annual meeting of shareholders of the bank.
Later filing	(2) If a bank's shareholders sign a resolution under paragraph 152(1)(b) in lieu of an annual meeting, the bank shall send a copy of the documents referred to in subsections 308(1) and (3) to the Superintendent not later than thirty days after the signing of the resolution.
	94. (1) Subsection 315(3) of the Act is replaced by the following:
Notice of designation	(3) Within fifteen days after appointing a firm of accountants as auditor of a bank, the bank and the firm of accountants shall jointly designate a member of the firm who has the qualifications described in subsection (1) to conduct the audit of the bank on behalf of the firm and the bank shall forthwith notify the Superintendent in writing of the designation.
	(2) Subsection 315(4) of the French version of the Act is replaced by the following:
Remplace- ment d'un membre désigné	(4) Si, pour une raison quelconque, le membre désigné cesse de remplir ses fonctions, la banque et le cabinet de comptables peuvent désigner conjointement un autre membre qui remplit les conditions du paragraphe (1); la banque en avise sans délai par écrit le surintendant.
	95. Subsection 369(2) of the Act is replaced by the following:
Priority not affected	(2) Nothing in subsection (1) prejudices or affects the priority of any holder of any security interest in any property of a bank.
	96. (1) The definitions ``eligible Canadian financial institution'' and ``eligible foreign institution'' in subsection 370(1) of the Act are replaced by the following:
``eligible Canadian financial institution'' « institution financière canadienne admissible »	``eligible Canadian financial institution'' means a Canadian financial institution that is a body corporate and that is widely held;
``eligible foreign institution'' « institution étrangère admissible »	``eligible foreign institution'' means
	(a) a foreign bank that, in the opinion of the Minister, after consultation with the Superintendent, is regulated as or like a bank, according to the jurisdiction under whose laws it was incorporated or in any jurisdiction in which it carries on business, or
	(b) a foreign institution that, in the opinion of the Minister,
	(i) is, with respect to its provision of financial services, regulated in the jurisdiction under whose laws it was incorporated or in any jurisdiction in which it carries on business, and
	(ii) is widely held;
1991, c. 48, par. 494(b)	(2) Subsections 370(2) to (4) of the Act are repealed.
	97. Subsection 371(1) of the Act is replaced by the following:
Associates	371. (1) For the purpose of determining ownership of a bank, where two persons who each beneficially own shares of a bank are associated with each other, those persons are deemed to be a single person who beneficially owns the aggregate number of shares of the bank beneficially owned by them.
1991, c. 46, s. 578; 1991, c. 48, par. 494(c); 1994, c. 47, ss. 17 to 21; 1997, c. 15, ss. 36 to 41; 1999, c. 28, ss. 18 to 20	98. Sections 372 to 400 of the Act are replaced by the following:
	Constraints on Ownership
Significant interest	372. Except as permitted by this Part, no person shall have a significant interest in any class of shares of a bank.
Acquisition of significant interest	373. (1) Subject to this Part, no person, or entity controlled by a person, shall, without the approval of the Minister, purchase or otherwise acquire any share of a bank or purchase or otherwise acquire control of any entity that holds any share of a bank if
	(a) the acquisition would cause the person to have a significant interest in any class of shares of the bank; or
	(b) where the person has a significant interest in a class of shares of the bank, the acquisition would increase the significant interest of the person in that class of shares.
Amalgama- tion, etc., constitutes acquisition	(2) If, as a result of an amalgamation, merger or reorganization, the entity that results would have a significant interest in a class of shares of a bank, that entity is deemed to be acquiring a significant interest in that class of shares of the bank through an acquisition for which the approval of the Minister is required.
Limitations on share holdings	374. (1) No person may be a major shareholder of a bank with equity of five billion dollars or more.
Exception - widely held bank	(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a widely held bank that controls, within the meaning of paragraphs 3(1)(a) and (d), the bank with equity of five billion dollars or more if it controlled, within the meaning of those paragraphs, the bank on the day the bank's equity reached five billion dollars and it has controlled, within the meaning of those paragraphs, the bank since that day.
Exception - widely held bank holding company	(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to a widely held bank holding company that controls, within the meaning of paragraphs 3(1)(a) and (d), the bank with equity of five billion dollars or more if
	(a) the bank holding company controlled, within the meaning of those paragraphs, the bank on the day the bank's equity reached five billion dollars and it has controlled, within the meaning of those paragraphs, the bank since that day;
	(b) the bank holding company acquired control, within the meaning of those paragraphs, of the bank under section 677 or 678 and the bank holding company has continued to control, within the meaning of those paragraphs, the bank since the day the bank holding company acquired control; or
	(c) the bank was a subsidiary of another bank that was continued under section 684 as the bank holding company and the bank holding company has continued to control, within the meaning of those paragraphs, the bank since the day it came into existence as a bank holding company.
Exception - insurance holding companies and certain institutions	(4) Subsection (1) does not apply to any of the following that controls, within the meaning of paragraph 3(1)(d), the bank with equity of five billion dollars or more if it controlled, within the meaning of that paragraph, the bank on the day the bank's equity reached five billion dollars and it has controlled, within the meaning of that paragraph, the bank since that day:
	(a) a widely held insurance holding company;
	(b) an eligible Canadian financial institution, other than a bank; or
	(c) an eligible foreign institution.
Exception - other entities	(5) Subsection (1) does not apply to an entity that controls, within the meaning of paragraphs 3(1)(a) and (d), the bank with equity of five billion dollars or more if the entity is controlled, within the meaning of those paragraphs, by a widely held bank to which subsection (2) applies, or a widely held bank holding company to which subsection (3) applies, that controls the bank.
Exception - other entities	(6) Subsection (1) does not apply to an entity that controls, within the meaning of paragraph 3(1)(d), the bank with equity of five billion dollars or more if the entity is controlled, within the meaning of that paragraph, by
	(a) a widely held insurance holding company to which subsection (4) applies that controls the bank;
	(b) an eligible Canadian financial institution to which subsection (4) applies, other than a bank, that controls the bank; or
	(c) an eligible foreign institution to which subsection (4) applies that controls the bank.
Exception	374.1 (1) Despite section 374, if a bank with equity of five billion dollars or more was formed as the result of an amalgamation, a person who is a major shareholder of the bank on the effective date of the letters patent of amalgamation shall do all things necessary to ensure that the person is no longer a major shareholder of the bank on the day that is one year after that day or on the day that is after any shorter period specified by the Minister.
Exception - widely held banks and bank holding companies	(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a widely held bank or a widely held bank holding company that controlled, within the meaning of paragraphs 3(1)(a) and (d), one of the applicants for the letters patent of amalgamation and that has controlled, within the meaning of those paragraphs, the amalgamated bank since the effective date of those letters patent.
Exception - insurance holding companies and certain institutions	(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to any of the following that controlled, within the meaning of paragraph 3(1)(d), one of the applicants for the letters patent of amalgamation if it has controlled, within the meaning of that paragraph, the amalgamated bank since the effective date of those letters patent:
	(a) a widely held insurance holding company;
	(b) an eligible Canadian financial institution, other than a bank; or
	(c) an eligible foreign institution.
Exception - other entities	(4) Subsection (1) does not apply to an entity that controls, within the meaning of paragraphs 3(1)(a) and (d), the amalgamated bank if the entity is controlled, within the meaning of those paragraphs, by a widely held bank or widely held bank holding company to which subsection (2) applies that controls the amalgamated bank.
Exception - other entities	(5) Subsection (1) does not apply to an entity that controls, within the meaning of paragraph 3(1)(d), the amalgamated bank if the entity is controlled, within the meaning of that paragraph, by any of the following:
	(a) a widely held insurance holding company to which subsection (3) applies that controls the amalgamated bank;
	(b) an eligible Canadian financial institution to which subsection (3) applies, other than a bank, that controls the amalgamated bank; or
	(c) an eligible foreign institution to which subsection (3) applies that controls the amalgamated bank.
Extension	(6) If general market conditions so warrant and the Minister is satisfied that the person has used the person's best efforts to be in compliance with subsection (1) on the required day, the Minister may specify a later day as the day from and after which the person must comply with that subsection.
Limitation on share holdings	375. (1) If a person is a major shareholder of a bank with equity of less than five billion dollars and the bank's equity reaches five billion dollars or more, the person shall do all things necessary to ensure that the person is not a major shareholder of the bank on the day that is three years after the day the bank's equity reached five billion dollars.
Exception	(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if any of subsections 374(2) to (6) applies to the person in respect of the bank.
Extension	(3) If general market conditions so warrant and the Minister is satisfied that the person has used the person's best efforts to be in compliance with subsection (1) on the required day, the Minister may specify a later day as the day from and after which the person must comply with that subsection.
Obligation of widely held bank	376. (1) If a widely held bank with equity of five billion dollars or more controls another bank and a person becomes a major shareholder of the other bank or of any entity that also controls the other bank, the widely held bank must do all things necessary to ensure that, on the day that is one year after the person became a major shareholder of the other bank or entity that controls the other bank,
	(a) the widely held bank no longer controls the other bank; or
	(b) the other bank or the entity that controls the other bank does not have any major shareholder other than the widely held bank or any entity that the widely held bank controls.