We heard concerns that the current requirements resulted in assurance reports that are complex and hard to read. We therefore consulted on changes to the Orders in Council that set banks’ disclosure requirements and the associated assurance requirements. The changes are designed to rationalise the structure of the assurance reports and hence improve their readability. We did not intend to change the scope, nature, or level of assurance, of the assurance engagements required for bank disclosure.
We have published a feedback statement, summarising the submissions we received on the proposals, and the policy decisions taken in response to those submissions.
We are planning to implement the changes to the bank disclosure requirements in time for disclosure statements with a reporting date of 30 September 2022. We are making recommendations to the Minister of Finance to get Amending Orders in Council made to achieve that. The text of the two Amending Orders following the consultation is here:
We received the following 8 submissions on the matters raised in the consultation paper.
We proposed to make changes to the assurance reports that are required to accompany registered banks’ public disclosure statements.
The consultation paper set out the evolution of the assurance requirements that led us to this point, a summary of the problems, our proposals to address them, and some high-level questions on the costs and benefits of making the proposed changes.
We asked for feedback on our proposals from banks’ auditors, banks themselves, and any other interested parties.
To implement the changes, we need to recommend to the Minister of Finance that he advises the Governor General to make the necessary amending orders.
The current versions of the assurance requirements can be seen in our “working copies” of the registered bank disclosure Orders in Council, available from the following page:
If you have any questions about the changes you can contact [email protected]