Peter Mathews
Question:158 Deputy Peter Mathews asked the Minister for Finance his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding banking practice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7812/12]
View answerTuesday, 14 February 2012
Questions (118)
Written answers
Under the Central Bank's Consumer Protection Code (the Code) if a customer is a "consumer" for the purposes of the Code, a financial institution, regulated by the Central Bank, must gather and record sufficient information from the consumer prior to offering, recommending, arranging or providing a product or service and that information must be appropriate to the nature and complexity of the product or service. The Central Bank has advised me that there are no requirements in the Code requiring financial institutions to seek tax clearance certificates from their customers but nor does the Code prohibit the request of such information. The Bank has also advised me that a mortgage loan account must operate in accordance with the terms and conditions applying to the mortgage agreement and that financial institutions regulated by the Central Bank may look for updated information when the nature of a product is about to change.
The Revenue Commissioners have advised me that from their point of view they do not require tax payers to provide Tax Clearance Certificates to financial institutions.