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Title

Series consists of

2 lower level description(s)

Arrangement structure

Series part of

Department of Finance fonds [textual record, cartographic material, architectural drawing] (R200-0-9-E)

Accession

1. Vancouver Regional Office, Audit and Liquidation of Commonwealth Trust [textual records] (122-000304-2)
2. Bureau du Surintendant des institutions financières, Inspecteur général des banques [documents textuels] (122-000728-5)
3. Superintendent of Financial Institutions - Examination of General Practices [textual records] (1996-01664-4)
4. Superintendent of Financial Institutions - Examination of General Practices [textual records] (1996-01663-6)

Bilingual equivalent

Bureau de l'inspecteur général des banques [document textuel]

Date(s)

1870-1991

Place of creation

Canada

Extent

Language of material

English

Scope and content

Series consists of registry files of both the central registry and those kept within the office as reference files. The records were all created by the Office of the Inspector General of Banks during daily operations.

Conditions of access

Terms of use

Copyright belongs to the Crown.

Additional name(s)

Canada. Office of the Inspector General of Banks.

Biography / Administrative history

The Inspector General is a permanent civil servant, responsible to the Minister of Finance. His responsibility is to ensure that the ten chartered banks of Canada and the two savings banks in the province of Quebec are operating in accordance with the provisions of the Bank Act, or the Quebec Savings Bank Act. The Bank Act specifies the transactions in which chartered banks may legally engage, and embodies regulations designed to ensure the proper conduct of the banks' affairs. The Inspector General has free access to the accounts of the banks, and makes his findings known in periodic reports to the Minister of Finance.

Bank returns, such as had been required by the legislation of 1856, were soon found to provide insufficient protection for the public and it became clear that some form of inspection or audit was necessary. For many years the shareholders' audit, made by independent auditors, was considered to afford the additional pro- tection required.

However, the weakness of such an arrangement became evident with the failure of the Home Bank in 1923 and a form of government inspection was put in force. A new officer of the Department of Finance was appointed and given the title of Inspector General of Banks (14-15 Geo. V, Cap. 7). He was to inspect the head offices and main branches of all the banks in Canada at irregular intervals and report thereon to the Minister of Finance. In addition a copy of all reports made by the auditors to the general manager and the directors of a bank was to be transmitted to the Minister of Finance. In 1987 the Office of the Superintendent of the Financial Institutions was created through the fusion of the Department of Insurance and the Office of the Inspector General of Banks. RG40 General Inventory

Additional information

Source

Government

Related control no.

1. 68/034
2. 1994-95/304 VFRC
3. 1994-95/728 GAD
4. 1996-97/664 GAD
5. 1996-97/665 GAD
6. 122-000304-2
7. 122-000728-5
8. 1996-01663-6
9. 1996-01664-4
10. RG40

MIKAN no.

140323