§ 10-15 — Examination; prohibited activities

(a) The business affairs of a licensee under this Act shall be examined for compliance with this Act as often as the Secretary deems necessary and proper. The Department may adopt rules with respect to the frequency and manner of examination. The Secretary shall appoint a suitable person to perform such examination. The Secretary and his or her appointees may examine the entire books, records, documents, and operations of each licensee and its subsidiary, affiliate, or agent, and may examine any of the licensee's or its subsidiary's, affiliate's, or agent's officers, directors, employees, and agents under oath or affirmation. (b) The Secretary shall prepare a sufficiently detailed report of each licensee's examination, shall issue a copy of the report to each licensee's principals, officers, or directors, and shall take appropriate steps to ensure correction of violations of this Act. (c) Affiliates of a licensee shall be subject to examination by the Secretary on the same terms as the licensee, but only if reports from or examination of a licensee provides for documented evidence of unlawful activity between a licensee and affiliate benefiting, affecting, or deriving from the activities regulated by this Act. (d) The expenses of any examination of the licensee and affiliates shall be borne by the licensee and assessed by the Secretary as may be established by rule. (e) Upon completion of the examination, the Secretary shall issue a report to the licensee. All confidential supervisory information, including the examination report and the work papers of the report, shall belong to the Secretary's office and may not be disclosed to anyone other than the licensee, law enforcement officials or other regulatory agencies that have an appropriate regulatory interest as determined by the Secretary, or to a party presenting a lawful subpoena to the Department. The Secretary may, through the Attorney General, immediately appeal to the court of jurisdiction the disclosure of such confidential supervisory information and seek a stay of the subpoena pending the outcome of the appeal. Reports required of licensees by the Secretary under this Act and results of examinations performed by the Secretary under this Act shall be the property of only the Secretary, but may be shared with the licensee. Access under this Act to the books and records of each licensee shall be limited to the Secretary and his or her agents as provided in this Act and to the licensee and its authorized agents and designees. No other person shall have access to the books and records of a licensee under this Act. Any person upon whom a demand for production of confidential supervisory information is made, whether by subpoena, order, or other judicial or administrative process, must withhold production of the confidential supervisory information and must notify the Secretary of the demand, at which time the Secretary is authorized to intervene for the purpose of enforcing the limitations of this Section or seeking the withdrawal or termination of the attempt to compel production of the confidential supervisory information. The Secretary may impose any conditions and limitations on the disclosure of confidential supervisory information that are necessary to protect the confidentiality of that information. Except as authorized by the Secretary, no person obtaining access to confidential supervisory information may make a copy of the confidential supervisory information. The Secretary may condition a decision to disclose confidential supervisory information on entry of a protective order by the court or administrative tribunal presiding in the particular case or on a written agreement of confidentiality. In a case in which a protective order or agreement has already been entered between parties other than the Secretary, the Secretary may nevertheless condition approval for release of confidential supervisory information upon the inclusion of additional or amended provisions in the protective order. The Secretary may authorize a party who obtained the records for use in one case to provide them to another party in another case, subject to any conditions that the Secretary may impose on either or both parties. The requester shall promptly notify other parties to a case of the release of confidential supervisory information obtained and, upon entry of a protective order, shall provide copies of confidential supervisory information to the other parties. (f) The Secretary and employees of the Department shall be subject to the restrictions provided in Section 2.5 of the Division of Banking Act, including, without limitation, the restrictions on: (1) owning shares of stock or holding any other equity interest in an entity regulated under this Act or in any corporation or company that owns or controls an entity regulated under this Act; (2) being an officer, director, employee, or agent of an entity regulated under this Act; and (3) obtaining a pawn or accepting a gratuity from an entity regulated under this Act.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 103-585, eff. 3-22-24.)