• Organisational Structure, Corporate Governance and Management Oversight;
• Risk Management; and,
• Control Environment.

The information obtained in completing the Questionnaire can be used as an aid in cross-border and cross-sector supervisory discussions, planning supervisory strategies, and responding to supervisory emergencies. Supervisors can use the Questionnaire to further their understanding of a financial conglomerate's risk profile, systems of controls, and organisational/management structure.

Most sections of the Questionnaire begin with a question on the availability of information, and continue with questions that put that information into an organisational, strategic, and management context. Additionally, the Risk Management section has been structured to allow a financial conglomerate to identify its principal risks and to describe as many of those risks as the conglomerate and the supervisor(s) believe appropriate.

Most of the questions in the Questionnaire are "open-ended," that is, they ask "how" or "what" type questions that tend to generate a more informative discussion. Such questions permit the conglomerate to discuss the broad areas of the Questionnaire within their own frame of reference rather than simply responding "yes" or "no."

The User Guide has been prepared to facilitate using the Questionnaire and is based on the experience of the Task Force members in completing a more detailed questionnaire on fourteen financial conglomerates during 1996 and 1997. The Matrix included at the end can be used to capture brief responses to the questions across industry sectors and facilitate an overall supervisory strategy of the conglomerate among supervisors. Some of the information recorded in the matrix may be proprietary in nature, e.g. plans for the introduction of new products, and the consent of a mapped conglomerate should be sought prior to the sharing of such information with other supervisors.