Finance

FINANCE

Individual Accountability Framework (IAF)

The Central Bank (Individual Accountability Framework) Bill should complete all remaining stages in the Houses of the Oireachtas in late January or early February 2023. We expect the IAF to come into force in Q4 2023, following a period of consultation by the Central Bank on draft regulations and guidance. The IAF reflects the central role that culture and conduct now have in the Irish financial services sector, and will present implementation challenges for regulated firms and senior individuals working within them.

For more information, see here.

Consumer Protection Code Review

The Central Bank plans to consult on proposed reforms to the Consumer Protection Code (CPC) in Q4 2023, following the October 2022 publication of its Discussion Paper which is open for feedback until 31 March 2023. The CPC will be replaced by retail conduct framework regulations in 2024.

For more information on the CPC review, see here and for more information on the Central Bank’s consumer protection-related expectations of regulated firms, see here.

Retail Banking Review Report: Recommendations

The recommendations made in the November 2022 report arising from the Retail Banking Review commissioned by the Department of Finance are now Government policy. A number of these recommendations will involve new or amended legislation in 2023, including the recommendations that providers of credit to SMEs be authorised and supervised by the Central Bank, that the SME Regulations be amended in line with the CPC review, and that the remuneration restrictions for staff of AIB, BOI and PTSB be eased.

For more information, see here.

Credit Servicing Directive

With the new Credit Servicing Directive due for transposition into national law by 29 December 2023, key issues remain to be clarified by way of draft transposing legislation, such as the categorisation of non-performing loans, how sales of combined portfolios by EU banks are to be dealt with, and how the Irish framework which currently requires that credit purchasers be regulated will be amended.

For more information, see here.

AML

With trilogue negotiations on the European Commission’s AML Action Plan expected to start in late Q1/early Q2 2023, the location of the planned new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), the scope of AMLA’s mandate, and the final form of both the new directive and the new directly-effective regulation (single rulebook) should be finalised by Q3 2023. The crypto-asset related changes to the existing regulation on information accompanying the transfers of funds (part of the AML Action Plan) have already been agreed politically in tandem with MiCA (the proposed regulation on markets in crypto-assets) which is expected to be published in the Official Journal in late Q1/early Q2 2023, and will come into force 18 months later.

For more information, see here.

Green Bond Standard

Trilogue discussions are continuing on the proposal for a new voluntary EU Green Bond Standard – the final form of the proposal is expected to be known in Q1 2023.

For more information on the key negotiation points, see here.

Securitisation Regulation

While the European Commission’s recent report did not recommend changes to the Level 1 text of the Regulation (for more information, see here), ESMA was asked to review the existing disclosure templates, and to draft a dedicated disclosure template for private securitisations. We expect to see outputs from these reviews in 2023, together with the publication of the regulatory technical standards (RTS) on risk retention in the Official Journal, and the finalising of a number of other outstanding RTS under the Regulation.

EMIR

The EU Council and European Parliament will start reviewing the European Commission’s proposals, published on 7 December 2022 as part of a wider Capital Markets Union-related package, to make targeted changes to EMIR. In particular, to encourage clearing in the EU and to reduce reliance on third country CCPs, the proposed amendments would require firms subject to the clearing obligation to clear at least a portion of certain systemic derivatives through active accounts at EU CCPs.

For more information on the proposals, see here.

Insurance Recovery and Resolution Directive

The EU insurance recovery and resolution directive (IRRD) is likely to be passed into EU law in early 2023. It aims to introduce a harmonised recovery and resolution framework for failing or likely to fail EU insurers and reinsurers and to provide new resolution authorities with an array of resolution tools. The IRRD will need to be implemented into Irish law within 18 months of it entering into force. Irish authorised insurers should already be familiar with recovery planning due to the requirements of the existing Irish regulations and the associated Central Bank of Ireland guidance, but there will be additional work to be carried out by (re)insurers carrying on business in Ireland in 2023, once the IRRD enters into force.