Looking Ahead: Irish Developments

CONSUMER PROTECTION: DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE ROADMAP

The Department of Finance published the Financial Consumer Protection Roadmap on 13 September 2023, highlighting what we can expect to see from a legislative and policy perspective over the next two years in the areas of credit, individual accountability, consumer protection, digitalisation and security, and planned outputs from the November 2022 Retail Banking Review Report.

For more information, read our insights here: Department of Finance publishes Financial Consumer Protection Roadmap - Arthur Cox LLP.

CONSUMER PROTECTION CODE (CPC)

We expect to see the consultation paper from the Central Bank on its planned changes to the CPC in the coming weeks, following its October 2022 discussion paper and its August 2023 update on the CPC review. The Central Bank has also signposted that:

  • The revised 2024 CPC will be updated again in 2025. The second set of changes are expected to address matters arising from the Retail Banking Review Report, and key themes arising from the European Commission’s retail investment strategy and the planned changes to the Payment Services Directive.
  • The Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears (CCMA) and other “existing standalone consumer protection codes and regulations” will be consolidated into the revised CPC. The Central Bank has not signposted any plans to change the CCMA itself, but rather wants to locate all consumer-protection codes and regulations in the one place.

The Central Bank also indicated that it is “considering the scope of the Code and whether it should be extended to include sectors or services not currently covered by Code provisions."

For more information, read our recent update here: CPC Update: Revised 2024 CPC Regulations to be updated again in 2025 - Arthur Cox LLP.

INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY FRAMEWORK (IAF)

Further key dates for the operationalisation of the IAF are on the horizon. By way of reminder, the current timeline is as follows:

  • Central Bank Consultation CP 153: the consultation period ran from 13 March to 13 June 2023. A feedback statement is expected in Q4 2023.
  • Amended Fitness & Probity Investigations Guidance and Regulations: these were published in April 2023 after the first commencement order was signed. Read our insights here: Fitness and Probity: New Regulations and Guidance published.
  • Public consultation on changes to the Administrative Sanctions Procedure: this was published in June 2023, and closed on 14 September 2023. Read our insights here: Insights from the Central Bank’s Administrative Sanctions Procedure (ASP) Consultation.
  • Conduct Standards: these will apply from end-December 2023 (the relevant provisions of the IAF Act will become operational on 29 December 2023).
  • New certification requirement under the Fitness & Probity regime: this will apply from end-December 2023 (the relevant provisions of the IAF Act will become operational on 29 December 2023 and the related regulations which formed part of CP 153 are expected to come into force around the same time).
  • Holding companies to be subject to the F&P regime: this will be from end-December 2023 (the relevant provisions of the IAF Act will become operational on 29 December 2023 and the related regulations which formed part of CP 153 are expected to come into force around the same time).
  • SEAR: expected to apply from 1 July 2024 (the key deliverable for SEAR is the set of regulations which formed part of CP 153 – those regulations are expected to come into force on that date).

GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION PROGRAMME

We are tracking a number of proposed Bills from the Government Legislation Programme (Autumn Session 2023) which are relevant from a financial services perspective:

Priority for Publication

  • Future Ireland Fund Bill (to provide for the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund).
  • Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill (the Department of Finance’s April 2023 press release on the general scheme of the Bill is here).
  • Residential Tenancies (Right to Purchase) Bill (to allow tenants in residential properties a right of first refusal to purchase a property when it is put forward for sale).

Priority for Drafting

  • Motor Insurance Insolvency Compensation Bill (to transpose Articles 10a and 25a of the 6th revised EU Motor Insurance Directive).
  • Credit Review Service Bill (to put the Credit Review Office on a statutory footing).

Other legislation (work underway/heads of bill being prepared)

  • Access to Cash Bill (arising from the November 2022 Retail Banking Review Report; the aim is to provide for reasonable access to cash for people in Ireland and to require ATM operators and cash-in-transit companies to be authorised and supervised by the Central Bank; read our insights on the Retail Banking Review Report here).
  • Restrictive Measures Bill (to create a mechanism whereby persons would be required to adhere to the asset freezing requirements of certain UN Security Council resolutions in the period prior to their incorporation into an EU legislative act (as a bridging measure to meet Ireland’s international obligations and prevent sanctions evasion).
  • Companies (Corporate Governance, Enforcement and Regulatory Provisions) Bill (to enhance and strengthen enforcement and regulatory provisions in the Companies Act 2014, with amendments relating to corporate governance, company law enforcement and supervision, administration, and insolvency (including the regulation of receivers) – this follows the May 2023 public consultation on proposals to enhance the Companies Act 2014 by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment).
  • Cooperative Societies Bill (to place the cooperative model on a more favourable and clear legal basis).
  • Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill (to move this into the ownership of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment with related governance structures).
  • Miscellaneous Provisions (Transparency and Registration of Limited Partnerships and Business Names) Bill (to reform the Limited Partnerships Act 1907 and the Registration of Business Names Act 1963, strengthen Ireland’s regulatory framework and respond to concerns raised in relation to the transparency of limited partnerships – this follows the public consultation on the Limited Partnerships Act 1907 by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in January 2019).
  • Personal Insolvency (Amendment) (No 2) Bill (to update aspects of the personal insolvency legislation, following the statutory review of the Personal Insolvency Acts – work is underway on the draft Bill).

Bills already on Dáil / Seanad Order Paper

  • Screening of Third Country Transactions Bill (read our Competition Group’s insights here: An Overview of the Proposed Foreign Investment Screening Regime in Ireland - Arthur Cox LLP.

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