Ireland

Susanne McMenamin, Garret Farrelly and Tara Doyle of Matheson discuss the role of corporate governance in ESG and explain why boardrooms needs to be proactive, prepared and well-informed when it comes to successful ESG reporting

Niamh O’Shea and Ian Conlon of the Maples Group discuss how to overcome the twin difficulties of delays to implementation and lack of transparency and reporting standards for ESG data in the EU

Ian Conlon and Niamh O’Shea of the Maples Group discuss the delay to implement the ESG regulations and the impact this has had on asset managers

Matheson partners Julie Murphy-O'Connor and Tara Doyle discuss work-life balance, the firm's commitment to diversity and inclusion and provide useful advice on how to develop

The Court of Appeal's decision in Bank of Ireland v Eteams (International) brings further important legal clarity for all forms of receivables finance transactions, as well as the 'true sale' opinions given by lawyers in the context of such deals.

On January 21 2019, the Irish Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Act 2018 (Act) came into force. This Act radically alters the operation of the secondary acquisition, ownership and servicing of performing and non-performing Irish consumer loans, and certain small and medium enterprise (SME) loans (together, Relevant Loans).

Anna Biala, Peter Chapman, Jack Hardman and Jennifer Mbaluto from Clifford Chance’s global fintech group take a bird’s eye view of fintech developments across EMEA and how regulators are responding

The Irish legislature is considering draft legislation which would regulate purchasers of non-performing loans (NPLs). The draft legislation is at an advanced stage in the parliamentary process. While credit servicers are regulated in Ireland, credit owners (in the main, entities that have purchased loans and loan portfolios from banks looking to reduce their exposure to NPLs) are not. However, the regulation of owners of credit would be a substantial extension of the regime. Furthermore, it would run contrary to EU policy in this area which proposes to regulate credit servicers (as is the existing position in Ireland) but deliberately stops short of regulating loan owners because such an extension is neither necessary nor desirable.

The Irish Court of Appeal recently handed down an important decision which will impact default interest provisions in Irish law loan agreements. In Sheehan v Breccia/Flynn and Benray v Breccia, the court considered whether a provision for default interest in a bank's standard terms and conditions should be struck down as a penalty. This is a highly technical question, but one which is important for banks and borrowers, and for other market operators.

The settlement of a recent financial services regulatory enforcement action by the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) highlights the interconnectedness of regulatory breaches. In brief, a failure of controls and policies can create a domino effect which triggers liabilities under the anti-money laundering/counter terrorist financing (AML/CTF) regime, client asset requirements and a finding that key frontline personnel are not fit and proper for their role.

The Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) recently published its 2017 annual report. It is essential reading for Irish finance services regulatory advisers, and for any entity with a business presence in Ireland in the banking and financial services sector.

Maeve Moran and Cian McCourt, Arthur Cox

The Irish parliament is debating a bill which, if passed, would regulate the owners of Irish loan portfolios. The proposed legislation – the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) [Amendment] Bill 2018 (the Bill) is understood to have been triggered by reports of intended loan sales by particular retail banks in Ireland. Since 2015, non-regulated owners of loan portfolios comprising loans to consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been required to appoint a regulated credit servicer to manage the portfolio. This was to ensure that consumers and SMEs would continue to enjoy their statutory customer protection even though their creditor was unregulated. Broadly, this ensured consumers and SMEs were in the same position as if facing a regulated retail bank. However, in some political circles this regime has been perceived as providing insufficient protection to borrowers.

The Irish Central Bank (CBI), in common with other EU regulators, will be focused in 2018 on intensified supervision of anti-money laundering/counter-terrorist finance compliance, data protection, and ensuring banks and other regulated institutions have robust cyber security systems. However, in Ireland another area is emerging. This is the question of individual responsibility for increased regulatory scrutiny by directors and senior managers for regulatory breaches by their institution.

The Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) regulates the banking and finance industries in Ireland. It has a broad range of investigative powers to allow it to perform its supervisory and regulatory functions. These include the power to enter into and search premises, take copies of documents and obtain information in other ways. The legislation protects the right to legal professional privilege (LPP) enjoyed by a person who is the subject of the exercise of those powers. However, the legislation is otherwise generally silent on issues such as the right to privacy of personal information. The interaction of regulatory powers with the right to privacy in our digital age has been the subject of much discussion recently in Ireland.