6.—(1) After subsection (3) of section 9 of the Building Societies Act (initial authorisation to raise funds and borrow money) there shall be inserted the following subsection—
“(3A) The Commission shall not grant authorisation to a society if it appears to the Commission that—
(a)the society is closely linked with any person; and
(b)the society’s close links with that person, or any matters relating to any non-EEA laws or administrative provisions to which that person is subject, are such as would prevent the effective exercise by the Commission of its supervisory functions in relation to the society;
and in this Act `non-EEA laws' means laws of a country or territory outside the European Economic Area and “non-EEA administrative provisions” shall be construed accordingly.”
and at the beginning of each of subsections (4) and (5) of that section there shall be inserted the words “Subject to subsection (3A) above,”.
(2) After subsection (5) of section 41 of that Act (power to direct application to renew authorisation), there shall be inserted the following subsection—
“(5A) The Commission shall not grant renewed authorisation to a society if it appears to the Commission that—
(a)the society is closely linked with any person; and
(b)the society’s close links with that person, or any matters relating to any non-EEA laws or administrative provisions to which that person is subject, are such as would prevent the effective exercise by the Commission of its supervisory functions in relation to the society.”
and in each of subsections (6) and (7) of that section, after the words “to subsection” there shall be inserted the words “(5A) above and subsection”.
(3) After paragraph (c) of subsection (3) of section 43 of that Act (revocation of authorisation), there shall be inserted the following paragraph—
“(cc)it appears to the Commission that—
(i)the society is closely linked with any person; and
(ii)the society’s close links with that person, or any matters relating to any non-EEA laws or administrative provisions to which that person is subject, are such as would prevent the effective exercise by the Commission of its supervisory functions in relation to the society;”
(4) After subsection (3) of section 44 of that Act (reauthorisation) there shall be inserted the following subsection—
“(3A) The Commission shall not grant reauthorisation to a society if it appears to the Commission that—
(a)the society is closely linked with any person; and
(b)the society’s close links with that person, or any matters relating to any non-EEA laws or administrative provisions to which that person is subject, are such as would prevent the effective exercise by the Commission of its supervisory functions in relation to the society.”
and at the beginning of each of subsections (4) and (5) of that section, there shall be inserted the words “Subject to subsection (3A) above,”.
(5) In subsection (1) of section 119 of that Act (interpretation), after the definition of “mortgage debt” there shall be inserted the following definitions—
““non-EEA laws” has the meaning given by section 9(3A) and “non-EEA administrative provisions” shall be construed accordingly;”.