Bank Act (S.C. 1991, c. 46)

Marginal note:Defence — due diligence

• 798 (1) A director, officer or employee of a bank holding company is not liable under section 794 or 797 and has fulfilled their duty under subsection 748(2) if they exercised the care, diligence and skill that a reasonably prudent person would have exercised in comparable circumstances, including reliance in good faith on

  • (a) financial statements of the bank holding company that were represented to them by an officer of the bank holding company or in a written report of the auditor of the bank holding company fairly to reflect the financial condition of the bank holding company; or

  • (b) a report of a person whose profession lends credibility to a statement made by them.

• Marginal note:Defence — good faith

  (2) A director or officer of a bank holding company has fulfilled their duty under subsection 748(1) if they relied in good faith on

  • (a) financial statements of the bank holding company that were represented to them by an officer of the bank holding company or in a written report of the auditor of the bank holding company fairly to reflect the financial condition of the bank holding company; or

  • (b) a report of a person whose profession lends credibility to a statement made by them.

Marginal note:Indemnification

• 799 (1) A bank holding company may indemnify a director or officer of the bank holding company, a former director or officer of the bank holding company or another person who acts or acted, at the bank holding company’s request, as a director or officer of or in a similar capacity for another entity against all costs, charges and expenses, including an amount paid to settle an action or satisfy a judgment, reasonably incurred by them in respect of any civil, criminal, administrative, investigative or other proceeding in which they are involved because of that association with the bank holding company or other entity.

• Marginal note:Advances

  (2) A bank holding company may advance amounts to the director, officer or other person for the costs, charges and expenses of a proceeding referred to in subsection (1). They shall repay the amounts if they do not fulfil the conditions set out in subsection (3).

• Marginal note:No indemnification

  (3) A bank holding company may not indemnify a person under subsection (1) unless

  • (a) the person acted honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interests of, as the case may be, the bank holding company or the other entity for which they acted at the bank holding company’s request as a director or officer or in a similar capacity; and

  • (b) in the case of a criminal or administrative action or proceeding that is enforced by a monetary penalty, the person had reasonable grounds for believing that their conduct was lawful.

• Marginal note:Indemnification — derivative actions

  (4) A bank holding company may with the approval of a court indemnify a person referred to in subsection (1) or advance amounts to them under subsection (2) — in respect of an action by or on behalf of the bank holding company or other entity to procure a judgment in its favour to which the person is made a party because of the association referred to in subsection (1) with the bank holding company or other entity — against all costs, charges and expenses reasonably incurred by them in connection with that action if they fulfil the conditions set out in subsection (3).

• Marginal note:Right to indemnity

  (5) Despite subsection (1), a person referred to in that subsection is entitled to be indemnified by the bank holding company in respect of all costs, charges and expenses reasonably incurred by them in connection with the defence of any civil, criminal, administrative, investigative or other proceeding to which the person is subject because of the association referred to in subsection (1) with the bank holding company or other entity described in that subsection if the person

  • (a) was not judged by the court or other competent authority to have committed any fault or omitted to do anything that they ought to have done; and

  • (b) fulfils the conditions set out in subsection (3).

• Marginal note:Heirs and personal representatives

  (6) A bank holding company may, to the extent referred to in subsections (1) to (5) in respect of the person, indemnify the heirs or personal representatives of any person whom the bank holding company may indemnify under those subsections.

Marginal note:Directors’ and officers’ insurance

800 A bank holding company may purchase and maintain insurance for the benefit of any person referred to in section 799 against any liability incurred by the person

• (a) in the capacity of a director or an officer of the bank holding company, except where the liability relates to a failure to act honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interests of the bank holding company; or

• (b) in the capacity of a director or officer of another entity or while acting in a similar capacity for another entity, if they act or acted in that capacity at the bank holding company’s request, except if the liability relates to a failure to act honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interests of the entity.

Marginal note:Application to court for indemnification

• 801 (1) A bank holding company or a person referred to in section 799 may apply to a court for an order approving an indemnity under that section and the court may so order and make any further order it thinks fit.

• Marginal note:Notice to Superintendent

  (2) An applicant under subsection (1) shall give the Superintendent written notice of the application and the Superintendent is entitled to appear and to be heard at the hearing of the application in person or by counsel.

• Marginal note:Other notice

  (3) On an application under subsection (1), the court may order notice to be given to any interested person and that person is entitled to appear and to be heard in person or by counsel at the hearing of the application.

Fundamental Changes

Amendments

Marginal note:Sections 215 to 222 apply

802 Sections 215 to 222 apply in respect of bank holding companies, subject to the following:

• (a) references to “bank” in those sections are to be read as references to “bank holding company”;

• (b) references to “this Act” in those sections are to be read as references to “this Part”;

• (c) the reference to “subsection 159(1) and section 168” in paragraph 217(1)(i) is to be read as a reference to “subsection 749(1) and section 756”; and

• (d) the reference to “sections 143 and 144” in subsection 221(1) is to be read as a reference to “sections 732 and 733”.

Amalgamation

Marginal note:Application to amalgamate

• 803 (1) On the joint application of two or more bodies corporate incorporated by or under an Act of Parliament, including banks and bank holding companies but not including federal credit unions, the Minister may issue letters patent amalgamating and continuing the applicants as one bank holding company.

• Marginal note:Restriction

  (2) Despite subsection (1), if one of the applicants is a bank holding company that controls 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, other than a bank in respect of which the Minister has specified that subsection 378(1) no longer applies, the Minister shall not issue letters patent referred to in subsection (1) unless

  • (a) the amalgamated bank holding company would be a widely held bank holding company; or

  • (b) the amalgamated bank holding company would be controlled by a widely held bank holding company that, at the time the application was made, controlled

    • (i) the applicant, or

    • (ii) any other applicant that is a bank holding company that controls 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, other than a bank in respect of which the Minister has specified that subsection 378(1) no longer applies.

• Marginal note:Restriction

  (3) Despite subsection (1), if the amalgamated bank holding company would be a bank holding company with equity of twelve billion dollars or more, the Minister shall not issue letters patent referred to in that subsection unless the amalgamated bank holding company is

  • (a) widely held;

  • (b) controlled, within the meaning of paragraphs 3(1)(a) and (d), by a widely held bank, or by a widely held bank holding company, that controlled one of the applicants at the time the application was made; or

  • (c) controlled, within the meaning of paragraph 3(1)(d), by a widely held insurance holding company, or by an eligible Canadian financial institution, within the meaning of subsection 370(1), other than a bank, or by an eligible foreign institution, within the meaning of subsection 370(1), that controlled one of the applicants at the time the application was made.

Marginal note:Amalgamation agreement

• 804 (1) Each applicant proposing to amalgamate shall enter into an amalgamation agreement.

• Marginal note:Contents of agreement

  (2) Every amalgamation agreement shall set out the terms and means of effecting the amalgamation and, in particular,

  • (a) the name of the amalgamated bank holding company and the province in which its head office is to be situated;

  • (b) the name and place of ordinary residence of each proposed director of the amalgamated bank holding company;

  • (c) the manner in which the shares of each applicant are to be converted into shares or other securities of the amalgamated bank holding company;

  • (d) if any shares of an applicant are not to be converted into shares or other securities of the amalgamated bank holding company, the amount of money or securities that the holders of those shares are to receive in addition to or in lieu of shares or other securities of the amalgamated bank holding company;

  • (e) the manner of payment of money in lieu of the issue of fractional shares of the amalgamated bank holding company or of any other body corporate that are to be issued in the amalgamation;

  • (f) the proposed by-laws of the amalgamated bank holding company;

  • (g) details of any other matter necessary to perfect the amalgamation and to provide for the subsequent management and operation of the amalgamated bank holding company; and

  • (h) the proposed effective date of the amalgamation.

• Marginal note:Cross ownership of shares

  (3) If shares of one of the applicants are held by or on behalf of another of the applicants, other than shares held in the capacity of a personal representative or by way of security, the amalgamation agreement must provide for the cancellation of those shares when the amalgamation becomes effective without any repayment of capital in respect thereof, and no provision shall be made in the agreement for the conversion of those shares into shares of the amalgamated bank holding company.

Marginal note:Approval of agreement by Superintendent

805 An amalgamation agreement must be submitted to the Superintendent for approval and any approval of the agreement under subsection 806(4) by the holders of any class or series of shares of an applicant is invalid unless, before the date of the approval, the Superintendent has approved the agreement in writing.

Marginal note:Shareholder approval

• 806 (1) The directors of each applicant shall submit an amalgamation agreement for approval to a meeting of the holders of shares of the applicant body corporate of which they are directors and, subject to subsection (3), to the holders of each class or series of such shares.

• Marginal note:Right to vote

  (2) Each share of an applicant carries the right to vote in respect of an amalgamation agreement whether or not it otherwise carries the right to vote.

• Marginal note:Separate vote for class or series

  (3) The holders of shares of a class or series of shares of each applicant are entitled to vote separately as a class or series in respect of an amalgamation agreement if the agreement contains a provision that, if it were contained in a proposed amendment to the by-laws or incorporating instrument of the applicant, would entitle those holders to vote separately as a class or series.

• Marginal note:Special resolution

  (4) Subject to subsection (3), an amalgamation agreement is approved when the shareholders of each applicant that is a body corporate have approved the amalgamation by special resolution.

• Marginal note:Termination

  (5) An amalgamation agreement may provide that, at any time before the issue of letters patent of amalgamation, the agreement may be terminated by the directors of an applicant notwithstanding that the agreement has been approved by the shareholders of all or any of the applicant bodies corporate.

Marginal note:Vertical short-form amalgamation

• 807 (1) A bank holding company may, without complying with sections 804 to 806, amalgamate with one or more bodies corporate that are incorporated by or under an Act of Parliament if the body or bodies corporate, as the case may be, are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the bank holding company and

  • (a) the amalgamation is approved by a resolution of the directors of the bank holding company and of each amalgamating subsidiary; and

  • (b) the resolutions provide that

    • (i) the shares of each amalgamating subsidiary will be cancelled without any repayment of capital in respect thereof,

    • (ii) the letters patent of amalgamation and the by-laws of the amalgamated bank holding company will be the same as the incorporating instrument and the by-laws of the amalgamating bank holding company that is the holding body corporate, and

    • (iii) no securities will be issued by the amalgamated bank holding company in connection with the amalgamation.

• Marginal note:Horizontal short-form amalgamation

  (2) Two or more bodies corporate incorporated by or under an Act of Parliament may amalgamate and continue as one bank holding company without complying with sections 804 to 806 if

  • (a) at least one of the applicants is a bank holding company;

  • (b) the applicants are all wholly-owned subsidiaries of the same holding body corporate;

  • (c) the amalgamation is approved by a resolution of the directors of each of the applicants; and

  • (d) the resolutions provide that

    • (i) the shares of all applicants, except those of one of the applicants that is a bank holding company, will be cancelled without any repayment of capital in respect thereof,

    • (ii) the letters patent of amalgamation and the by-laws of the amalgamated bank holding company will be the same as the incorporating instrument and the by-laws of the amalgamating bank holding company whose shares are not cancelled, and

    • (iii) the stated capital of the amalgamating bank holding companies and bodies corporate whose shares are cancelled will be added to the stated capital of the amalgamating bank holding company whose shares are not cancelled.

Marginal note:Joint application to Minister

• 808 (1) Subject to subsection (2), unless an amalgamation agreement is terminated in accordance with subsection 806(5), the applicants shall, within three months after the approval of the agreement in accordance with subsection 806(4) or the approval of the directors in accordance with subsection 807(1) or (2), jointly apply to the Minister for letters patent of amalgamation continuing the applicants as one bank holding company.

• Marginal note:Conditions precedent to application

  (2) No application for the issue of letters patent under subsection (1) may be made unless

  • (a) notice of intention to make such an application has been published at least once a week for a period of four consecutive weeks in the Canada Gazette and in a newspaper in general circulation at or near the place where the head office of each applicant is situated; and

  • (b) the application is supported by satisfactory evidence that the applicants have complied with the requirements of this Part relating to amalgamations.

• Marginal note:Application of sections 672 to 674

  (3) If two or more bodies corporate, none of which is a bank holding company, apply for letters patent under subsection (1), sections 672 to 674 apply in respect of the application with any modifications that the circumstances require.

• Marginal note:Matters for consideration

  (4) Before issuing letters patent of amalgamation continuing the applicants as one bank holding company, the Minister shall take into account all matters that the Minister considers relevant to the application, including

  • (a) the sources of continuing financial support for any bank that will be a subsidiary of the amalgamated bank holding company;

  • (b) the soundness and feasibility of the plans of the applicants for the future conduct and development of the business of any bank that will be a subsidiary of the amalgamated bank holding company;

  • (c) the business record and experience of the applicants;

  • (d) the reputation of the applicants for being operated in a manner that is consistent with the standards of good character and integrity;

  • (e) whether the amalgamated bank holding company will be operated responsibly by persons with the competence and experience suitable for involvement in the operation of a financial institution;

  • (f) the impact of any integration of the operations and businesses of the applicants on the conduct of those operations and businesses;

  • (g) the opinion of the Superintendent regarding the extent to which the proposed corporate structure of the amalgamated bank holding company and its affiliates may affect the supervision and regulation of any bank that will be its subsidiary, having regard to

    • (i) the nature and extent of the proposed financial services activities to be carried out by the affiliates of the amalgamated bank holding company, 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 holding company; and

  • (h) the best interests of the financial system in Canada.