52.— (1) The Governor may at his or her discretion F58[, subject to subsection (4),] appoint a suitably qualified person (including a person who is not an officer or employee of the Bank) to perform a function of the Governor under this Part if the Governor considers it necessary or appropriate to do so to ensure that the functions of the Governor under this Part are performed efficiently and effectively.

(2) The Head of Financial Regulation may at his or her discretion F58[, subject to subsection (4),] appoint a suitably qualified person (including a person who is not an officer or employee of the Bank) to perform a function (or any part of a function) of the Head of Financial Regulation under this Part if the Head of Financial Regulation considers it necessary or appropriate to do so to ensure that the functions of the Head of Financial Regulation under this Part are performed efficiently and effectively.

F59[(2A) The Bank may at its discretion F58[, subject to subsection (4),] appoint a suitably qualified person (including a person who is not an officer or employee of the Bank) to perform a function (or any part of a function) of the Bank under this Part, other than any function of making regulations or issuing codes, if the Bank considers it necessary or appropriate to do so to ensure that the functions of the Bank under this Part are performed efficiently and effectively.]

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsections (1) F60[, (2) and (2A)], the power to appoint a person to perform a function in accordance with F60[any] of those subsections includes the power to appoint the person to do any one or more of the following:

(a) form an opinion required by this Part to be formed by the Governor F60[, the Head of Financial Regulation or the Bank] (as the case may be);

(b) make an application to the Court;

(c) certify a matter to the Court.

F58[(4) The powers conferred by subsections (1), (2) and (2A) shall be exercised so as to secure the following:

(a) that the function of conducting an investigation in accordance with Chapter 3 where a person has formed the opinion referred to in section 25(1), and any function exercisable under that Chapter for or in connection with the conducting of such an investigation, is not performed by the person who forms that opinion;

(b) that any function under section 29(1) to (3) in relation to a suspension notice is not performed by a person who performed a function under section 26 in relation to the notice;

(c) that any function under section 43 in connection with the imposition of a prohibition in circumstances to which subparagraph (i) of subsection (3)(a) of that section applies is not performed by a person involved in the investigation referred to in that subparagraph.

(5) Paragraph (a) of subsection (4) does not prevent the person who forms the opinion referred to in that paragraph from exercising functions, of management, advice or otherwise, that do not affect the independence of the investigation.]