Bank Act (S.C. 1991, c. 46)

Marginal note:Place of records

• 239. (1) The records described in section 238 shall be kept at the head office of the bank or at such other place in Canada as the directors think fit.

• Marginal note:Notice of place of records

  (2) Where any of the records described in section 238 are not kept at the head office of a bank, the bank shall notify the Superintendent of the place where the records are kept.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of records of a branch of the bank outside Canada or in respect of customers of such a branch.

• Marginal note:Inspection

  (4) The records described in section 238, other than those described in paragraph 238(2)(c), shall at all reasonable times be open to inspection by the directors.

• Marginal note:Access to bank records

  (5) Shareholders, members and creditors of a bank and their personal representatives may examine the records referred to in subsection 238(1) during the usual business hours of the bank and may take extracts from them free of charge or have copies of them 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 those records during the usual business hours of the bank and take extracts from them or have copies of them made.

• Marginal note: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.

• Marginal note:Copies of by-laws

  (6) Every shareholder and every member of a bank is entitled, on request made not more frequently than once in each calendar year, to receive, free of charge, one copy of the by-laws of the bank.

Marginal note:Lists

• 240. (1) A person who is entitled to a basic list of shareholders or members of a bank (in this section referred to as the “applicant”) may request the bank to furnish the applicant with a basic list within ten days after receipt by the bank of the affidavit referred to in subsection (2) and, on payment of a reasonable fee by the applicant, the bank must comply with the request.

• Marginal note:Affidavit and contents

  (2) A request under subsection (1) must be accompanied by an affidavit containing

  • (a) the name and address of the applicant,

  • (b) the name and address for service of the entity, if the applicant is an entity, and

  • (c) an undertaking that the basic list and any supplemental lists obtained pursuant to subsections (5) and (6) will not be used except as permitted under section 242,

  and, if the applicant is an entity, the affidavit shall be made by a director or an officer of the entity, or any person acting in a similar capacity.

• Marginal note:Entitlement to list

  (3) A shareholder, member or creditor of a bank or their personal representative — or, if the bank is a distributing bank, any person — is entitled to a basic list of shareholders or members of the bank.

• Marginal note:Basic list

  (4) A basic list of shareholders or members of a bank consists of a list of shareholders or members that is made up to a date not more than ten days before the receipt of the affidavit referred to in subsection (2) and that sets out

  • (a) the names of the shareholders or members, as the case may be, of the bank;

  • (b) the number of shares owned by each shareholder, or the number of membership shares owned by each member, as the case may be; and

  • (c) the address of each shareholder or member as shown in the records of the bank.

• Marginal note:Supplemental lists

  (5) A person requiring a bank to supply a basic list may, if the person states in the accompanying affidavit that supplemental lists are required, request the bank or its agent, on payment of a reasonable fee, to provide supplemental lists of shareholders or members setting out any changes from the basic list in the names and addresses of the shareholders or members, as the case may be, and the number of shares owned by each shareholder, or the number of membership shares owned by each member, as the case may be, for each business day following the date to which the basic list is made up.

• Marginal note:When supplemental lists to be furnished

  (6) A bank or its agent shall provide a supplemental list of shareholders required under subsection (5)

  • (a) within ten days following the date the basic list is provided, where the information relates to changes that took place prior to that date; and

  • (b) within ten days following the day to which the supplemental list relates, where the information relates to changes that took place on or after the date the basic list was provided.