Bank Act (S.C. 1991, c. 46)

Marginal note:Retention of records

• 246. (1) A bank shall retain

  • (a) the records of the bank referred to in subsection 238(1);

  • (b) any record of the bank referred to in paragraph 238(2)(a) or (b);

  • (c) the central securities register referred to in subsection 248(1); and

  • (d) the members register referred to in subsection 254.1(1).

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) A bank shall retain all signature cards and signing authorities or copies thereof relating to any deposit or instrument in respect of which the bank has paid an amount to the Bank of Canada pursuant to section 438 until the Bank of Canada notifies the bank that they need no longer be retained.

• Marginal note:Evidence

  (3) Copies of the signature cards and signing authorities referred to in subsection (2) may be kept in any manner or form referred to in paragraphs 243(1)(a) and (b) and any such copies, or prints therefrom, are admissible in evidence in the same manner and to the same extent as the original signature cards and signing authorities.

• Marginal note:Relief

  (4) Nothing in this section affects the operation of any statute of limitation or prescription or relieves the bank from any obligation to the Bank of Canada in respect of any deposit or instrument in respect of which section 438 applies.

Marginal note:Regulations

247. The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting the records, papers and documents to be retained by a bank and the length of time those records, papers and documents are to be retained.

Marginal note:Central securities register

• 248. (1) A bank shall maintain a central securities register in which it shall record the securities, within the meaning of section 81, issued by it in registered form, showing in respect of each class or series of securities

  • (a) the names, alphabetically arranged, and latest known addresses of the persons who are security holders, and the names and latest known addresses of the persons who have been security holders;

  • (b) the number of securities held by each security holder; and

  • (c) the date and particulars of the issue and transfer of each security.

• Marginal note:Existing and continued banks

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), “central securities register” includes similar registers required by law to be maintained by a bank that was in existence immediately prior to the day that subsection comes into force or by a body corporate continued, or amalgamated and continued, as a bank under this Act before the continuance, amalgamation or coming into force of that subsection, as the case may be.

• Marginal note:Access to central securities register

  (3) Shareholders and creditors of a bank and their personal representatives — and, if the bank is a federal credit union, its members and their personal representatives — may examine the central securities register during the usual business hours of the bank and may take extracts from it free of charge or have copies of it made on payment of a reasonable fee. If the bank is a distributing bank, any other person may, on payment of a reasonable fee, examine the central securities register during the usual business hours of the bank and take extracts from it or have copies of it made.

• Marginal note:Electronic access

  (4) The bank may make the information contained in the central securities register available by any mechanical or electronic data processing system or other information storage device that is capable of reproducing it in intelligible written form within a reasonable time.

• Marginal note:Affidavit and undertaking

  (5) A person who wishes to examine the central securities register, take extracts from it or have copies of it made shall provide the bank with an affidavit containing their name and address — or if they are an entity, the name and address for service of the entity — and with an undertaking that the information contained in the register will not be used except in the same way as a list of shareholders may be used under section 242. In the case of an entity, the affidavit is to be sworn by a director or officer of the entity or a person acting in a similar capacity.

• Marginal note:Supplemental information

  (6) A person who wishes to examine a central securities register, take extracts from it or have copies of it made may on payment of a reasonable fee, if they state in the accompanying affidavit that supplementary information is required, request the bank or its agent to provide supplementary information setting out any changes made to the register.

• Marginal note:When supplementary information to be provided

  (7) A bank or its agent shall provide the supplementary information within

  • (a) 10 days after the day on which the central securities register is examined if the changes take place before that day; and

  • (b) 10 days after the day to which the supplementary information relates if the changes take place on or after the day on which the central securities register is examined.