9G.—(1) The Bank shall not F58[take a draft decision to propose to the ECB to grant a licence] unless the application for the licence includes the names of—

(a) the applicant’s shareholders or members that have qualifying holdings and of the amounts of those holdings, or

(b) where there are no qualifying holdings, the 20 largest shareholders or members.

(2) In determining whether the criteria for a qualifying holding are fulfilled, the voting rights referred to in Articles 9 and 10 of Directive 2004/109/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2004³⁹ in relation to information about issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market and the conditions regarding aggregation thereof set out in Article 12(4) and (5) of that Directive shall be taken into account.

(3) Voting rights or shares which institutions hold as a result of providing the underwriting of financial instruments or placing of financial instruments on a firm commitment basis included under point 6 of Section A of Annex I to Directive 2004/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004⁴⁰ shall not be taken into account provided that those rights are not exercised or otherwise used to intervene in the management of the issuer and are disposed of within one year of acquisition.

F59[(4) The Bank shall not take a draft decision to propose to the ECB to grant a licence if, taking into account the need to ensure the sound and prudent management of a credit institution, it is not satisfied, having regard to the criteria specified in section 9GA(1), as to the suitability of the shareholders or members.]

(5) Where close links exist between the credit institution and other natural or legal persons, the Bank shall F58[take a draft decision to propose to the ECB to grant a licence] only where those links do not prevent the effective exercise of its supervisory functions.

(6) The Bank shall not F58[take a draft decision to propose to the ECB to grant a licence] where the laws, regulations or administrative provisions of a third country governing one or more natural or legal persons with which the credit institution has close links, or difficulties involved in the enforcement of those laws, regulations or administrative provisions, prevent the effective exercise of its supervisory functions.

(7) The Bank shall require credit institutions to provide it with the information they require to monitor compliance with the conditions referred to in subsections (5) and (6) on an ongoing basis.]