Powers and authority

In the supervision of financial markets, the FIN-FSA may exercise supervisory powers as provided for in section 3 of the Act on the Supervisory Authority and elsewhere in law. The FIN-FSA’s supervisory powers include for example, the following:

A supervised entity or other financial market participant and, for example, their auditors shall, without undue delay, provide the FIN-FSA with any such information requested by it as is necessary for the exercise of its supervisory duties. The FIN-FSA has the right to perform inspections at supervised entities or other financial market participants and to obtain documents and other records necessary for the conduct of supervision. The FIN-FSA has also the right, where necessary, to summon to a hearing a representative of, or a person employed by, a supervised entity or other market participant.

The FIN-FSA may, within its supervisory powers, take decisions to, for example, restrict a supervised entity’s authorised business, restrict the activities of a supervised entity’s management for a specified period and to appoint an attorney to supervise the activities of an authorised supervised entity if there is evidence of incompetence, carelessness or misuse in the management of its affairs. The FIN-FSA may also employ an auditor or other outside expert adviser in order to clarify a matter which is pertinent to the purpose of supervising a supervised entity or other financial market participant and which requires special expertise. In addition, the FIN-FSA has the right to convene meetings of authorised supervised entities’ bodies with decision-making and administrative powers and to attend these meetings.

If a supervised entity or other financial market participant has in its activities failed to comply with the provisions governing financial markets, or the regulations issued thereunder, the FIN-FSA may, under penalty of a fine, order the supervised entity or other financial market participant to fulfil its obligations.

If a supervised entity or other financial market participant has in its activities failed to comply with regulations, the FIN-FSA may impose an administrative sanction as referred to in chapter 4 of the Act on the Financial Supervisory Authority. Administrative sanctions include public fines, public warnings and penalty payments. If the FIN-FSA suspects that an offence has been or will be committed, it may issue to the police a request for investigation.