Título VII. Regimen de contabilidad y divulgacion de informacion

The accounting recording of the transactions carried out by the companies regulated by this Law shall be effected, in that order, on the basis of the standards issued by the Monetary Board upon proposal of the Superintendency of Banks and, as applicable, on generally accepted accounting principles and on international accounting standards.

The Superintendency of Banks may authorize the use of accounting systems, as well as of book entries relating to securities, in which case the accounting records and book entries shall have the same evidentiary value that the law assigns to accounting books and to securities. The book-entry modality shall apply to all securities comprising the same series of a given issue.

The Superintendency of Banks shall establish procedures of a general nature for the presentation of financial statements and of any other information of the companies subject to its supervision and inspection.

The accounting records shall faithfully reflect all transactions derived from the acts, contracts, operations and services carried out and rendered by the companies authorized under this Law.

The accounting records and the legal documents supporting them shall constitute proof in judicial proceedings, save evidence to the contrary.

The consolidation of the financial statements of the companies comprising the financial group shall be carried out by the controlling company or by the responsible company, in accordance with the procedures issued for such purpose by the Superintendency of Banks and, as applicable, with generally accepted accounting principles and international accounting standards.

Banks and the companies forming the financial groups shall submit to the Superintendency of Banks, as of the end of each month and of each accounting year, detailed information on their operations in accordance with the general instructions communicated to them by the Superintendency of Banks. Likewise, they shall be obligated to provide the periodic or occasional information required of them by the Superintendency of Banks or the Monetary Board. Such information may be verified at any time by the Superintendency of Banks.

The end-of-accounting-year balance sheets and income statements of the supervised companies considered individually, and of the financial group on a consolidated basis, shall have the opinion of an external auditor, covering the matters prescribed by the Superintendency of Banks.

The Superintendency of Banks shall determine on a general basis the accounting operations and the minimum requirements to be incorporated in the engagement and scope of the external audits of the companies subject to its supervision and inspection; it shall likewise verify that external auditors are duly entered in the register kept for such purpose by the Superintendency of Banks.

External auditors who fail to comply with the legal, regulatory or contractual provisions they must observe when providing services to the entities referred to in this article may have their registration with the Superintendency of Banks cancelled.

Banks shall disclose to the public sufficient information regarding their activities and their financial position, which must be precise, correct and timely, in accordance with the general instructions communicated to them by the Superintendency of Banks.

The controlling company or the responsible company shall provide to the Superintendency of Banks and disclose to the public the individual and consolidated information of the companies that comprise the financial group, in accordance with the general instructions issued by the Superintendency of Banks.

Except for the obligations and duties established by the regulations on money laundering or other assets, the directors, managers, legal representatives, officers and employees of banks may not provide information, in any manner, to any person, natural or legal, public or private, that tends to reveal the confidential nature of the identity of depositors of banks, financial institutions and companies of a financial group, as well as the information provided by private persons to such entities.

Excepted from the limitation referred to in the preceding paragraph is the information that banks must provide to the Monetary Board, to the Bank of Guatemala, to the Superintendency of Banks and to the Superintendency of Tax Administration, as well as the information exchanged between banks and financial institutions. The information to be delivered to the Superintendency of Tax Administration shall follow the procedure established in the Tax Code.

The members of the Monetary Board, the authorities, the officers and the employees of the Bank of Guatemala, of the Superintendency of Banks and of the Superintendency of Tax Administration, may not disclose the information referred to in this article, except upon order of a competent judge.

The violation of the provisions of this article shall be considered a serious offense, and shall cause the immediate removal of those who commit it, without prejudice to the civil and criminal liabilities arising from such act.