Written Answers Nos. 92-102
92. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the number of staff that Permanent TSB employs directly or under contract who are solely or primarily working on resolving issues relating to the Central Bank investigation of its handling of tracker mortgages; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16500/16]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware Permanent tsb Group (PTSB) established a Mortgage Redress Programme (MRP) in July 2015 to remediate and compensate 1,372 mortgage customers who exited early from a fixed or discounted rate period and, as a result, lost their future entitlement to a tracker.
In September 2015, PTSB established a dedicated Mortgage Product Review Group (MPRG) to review its legacy mortgage product suite and identify any instances where the contractual terms and conditions of customers are not being fully honoured by the Group; in particular, in relation to tracker mortgages. In December 2015, the Central Bank of Ireland ('CBI') announced its intention to require all mortgage lenders to conduct a broad examination of tracker mortgage related issues. Details of this Review (the 'CBI Tracker Review') were provided to PTSB (and Springboard) by the CBI in December 2015. While the CBI's required scope is broad (in terms of timing and customer types), it is consistent with the root and branch product review which is being carried out by the MPRG.
I have been informed by PTSB that including 3rd parties and Independent Oversight, they currently have c.170 people working on these Tracker mortgage related projects.
93. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the number of staff that non-State-owned banks employ directly or under contract who are solely or primarily working on resolving issues relating to the Central Bank investigation of its handling of tracker mortgages; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16501/16]
View answerMy Department does not have information on the number of staff that non-State owned banks employ directly or under contract who are solely or primarily working on resolving issues relating to the Central Bank investigation of its handling of tracker mortgages. However, the Central Bank has set out a Framework for conducting the Tracker Mortgage Examination and given its scale, I understand that significant resources are being deployed by lenders to complete the examination.
The update on the Examination provided by the Central Bank on their website in April indicated that the planning phase of the Examination has now been completed and lenders have submitted plans including arrangements around governance and reporting to the Central Bank. Lenders have now moved to phase two which is analysing and identifying impacted borrowers. The update provided by the Central Bank confirmed that lenders have appointed external independent third party assurers to oversee this work and to ensure that the review is being carried out in line with the Central Bank's requirements.
The Central Bank have stated that is not in a position to provide information on the number of staff employed on this investigation by each lender as the level of resources being employed by each lender will vary at any one point in time depending on a range of issues.
The Central Bank will be providing public updates on the Tracker Mortgage Investigation through their web-site throughout the examination and I understand that the next update is due to be issued at the end of July.
94. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the amount of contingent convertible capital notes and preference shares that he holds in the covered banks; when he acquired these; the interest payable on each security; their maturity dates; his plans for these investments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16502/16]
View answerThe only remaining Contingent Capital Note, or 'CoCo', was issued by the State to AIB in July 2011. The AIB CoCo is scheduled to mature in July 2016 at which point the State will receive its final interest payment of €160 million, and a return of the full €1.6 billion of capital in cash.
The State no longer owns Preference Shares in any of the Irish banks. The elimination of these legacy instruments has been facilitated by the recovery in bank profitability and reflects a desire to rebuild balance sheets that are both strong and fully compliant with new and tougher regulatory requirements.
95. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance if Ulster Bank has made a formal application or indicated its plans to change its regulatory or legal status; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16504/16]
View answerThis is a regulatory matter for the Central Bank of Ireland and I am advised by the bank that it is prevented from discussing such matters. Its registers are available at registers.central.bank.ie.
However, for information, the Central Bank has advised me that Ulster Bank Ireland Limited, a credit institution authorised in Ireland, has changed its name to Ulster Bank Ireland Designated Activity Company with effect from 23rd May 2016. This has not impacted on its regulatory status.
96. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance if he is satisfied with the manner in which banks operate the standard financial statement for customers in financial distress; if there is a commonly applied definition of necessary living costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16505/16]
View answerThe Central Bank's Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears (CCMA) applies to all regulated mortgage lenders and credit servicing firms operating in the State when dealing with borrowers facing or in mortgage arrears on their primary residence, including any mortgage lending activities outsourced by these firms.
The CCMA provides a strong consumer protection framework to ensure that borrowers struggling to keep up mortgage repayments are treated in a fair and transparent way by their lender and that long term resolution is sought by lenders with each of their borrowers. It sets out a process called the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP).
The MARP is a four-step process which lenders must follow: Step 1: Communicate with the borrower; Step 2: Gather financial information; Step 3: Assess the borrower's circumstances; and Step 4: Propose a resolution.
As part of step 2 of MARP, a lender must use the prescribed standard financial statement (the SFS) to obtain financial information from a borrower in arrears or pre-arrears. The lender must provide the borrower with the SFS at the earliest possible opportunity and offer to assist the borrower with completing the SFS.
The completion of affordability assessments is a key step in the MARP - (Step 3). In this regard a lender must examine each case on its individual merits and it must base its assessment on the full circumstances of the borrower, including, inter alia, the information provided in the SFS.
In June 2015, the Central Bank published the outcome of a themed inspection of lenders' compliance with the CCMA. This is available at:
http://www.centralbank.ie/press-area/press-releases/Pages/CentralBanksthemedinspectionidentifies weaknessesinlenderscompliancewiththeCodeofConduct onMortgageArrears.aspx
As part of this theme seven lenders were inspected under 4 keys area. The Themed review found that while all of the lenders had implemented frameworks as required by the CCMA, weaknesses of varying degrees were identified across a number of lenders as well as a number of good practices. One of the areas examined was in relation to the resolution of arrears in a timely manner and delays were identified in passing a copy of the completed SFS to the lenders arrears support unit (ASU) for assessment and the ASU assessing the SFS once received. All lenders that were subject to the CCMA themed inspection have provided responses to the issues raised with them. The Central Bank of Ireland continues to engage with these lenders as part of their on-going supervisory engagement to ensure compliance with the CCMA.
Lenders generally use the Insolvency Service of Ireland's reasonable living expenses as a basis for their own policy for living expenses.
97. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance if he is satisfied with the pace of progress of investigations into the collapse of Irish Nationwide; when they will be completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16506/16]
View answerI am advised that an investigation was conducted by the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) under its Administrative Sanctions Procedure (pursuant to Part IIIC of the Central Bank Act 1942 (as amended). Following this investigation the Central Bank determined that it had reasonable grounds to suspect that Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS) had committed certain prescribed contraventions and that certain persons who were concerned in the management of INBS at the relevant time participated in the commission of those suspected prescribed contraventions. As regards the corporate entity INBS, that process concluded when a settlement was agreed in 2015 in which all of the prescribed contraventions were admitted by INBS and the maximum applicable fine of €5m was imposed on INBS but this was waived by the CBI on public interest grounds.
Civil proceedings against Michael Fingleton are underway in the Courts and are at discovery stage, I am advised by the Special Liquidators that no further comment can be provided on this matter at this juncture.
98. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance when he will provide a definitive update on the cost of the collapse of an insurance company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16507/16]
View answerIn 2010, at the request of the Central Bank of Ireland, Joint Administrators were appointed by the High Court under the Insurance No. 2 Act 1983 to Quinn Insurance Limited (QIL) due to concerns of the solvency position of that firm.
The Court appointed officers from Grant Thornton as Joint Administrators to oversee the administration of the company. The Administrators have a responsibility to report to the President of the High Court on the matters relating to the administration of QIL.
The position to date is that a total of €1,333 million has been drawn down from the Insurance Compensation Fund (ICF) by the Joint Administrators. A total of €200 million has been repaid to the ICF by the Joint Administrators, leaving the current figure for the net cost to the ICF of the failure of QIL at €1,133 million. The Central Bank of Ireland has advised that it is not in a position to supply a definitive update regarding the cost of the collapse of QIL.
I have been informed by the QIL Administrators that they do not envisage any further applications to the ICF for funding as they have sufficient finance to fund the last remaining significant task which is the litigation against PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The ultimate final cost to the ICF will only be determined when the matter with PwC comes to a conclusion, as any successful recovery from this action will be paid to the ICF.
99. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the amount of loans outstanding from former directors of State-owned banks; if the banks are continuing to collect these loans rigorously; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16508/16]
View answerI have received the following comments on the deputy's question.
AIB does not categorise loans to former directors separately. The bank does not differentiate between former directors and other customers in terms of customer treatment. While acknowledging that no two loans are the same, a consistent approach is applied to all customers, including former directors, in line with AIB's current policies and procedures.
Similarly, any former Director who has a loan with PTSB is treated in the same manner as all customers with outstanding loans. All dealings with customers are confidential. The fact that a customer may have previously been a director of the bank does not influence the manner of treatment in relation to outstanding loans if any.
As required by regulation, loans to current Directors are disclosed in the Annual Report of each institution.
100. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the revenue generated from residential stamp duty; and the number of individual residential cases in each of the years 2006 to 2016 to date, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16510/16]
View answer101. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the revenue generated from commercial stamp duty and the number of individual cases in each of the years 2006 to 2016 to date, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16511/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 100 and 101 together.
The information requested by the Deputy in relation to the yield from Stamp Duty on residential and commercial property, together with the number of transactions, is as set out in the following tables. It is not possible to separately identify commercial property from within the broader non-residential category.
Residential Property
|
Year |
€m |
Number of Transactions |
|
2006 |
1,311 |
52,901 |
|
2007 |
1,018 |
41,079 |
|
2008 |
445 |
25,371 |
|
2009 |
150 |
11,766 |
|
2010 |
107 |
20,888 |
|
2011 |
45 |
18,333 |
|
2012 |
57 |
25,177 |
|
2013 |
66 |
29,741 |
|
2014 |
102 |
42,971 |
|
2015 |
123 |
48,668 |
|
2016 to end April* |
37 |
13,134 |
Non-Residential Property
|
Year |
€m |
Number of Transactions |
|
2006 |
1,678 |
45,834 |
|
2007 |
1,363 |
37,900 |
|
2008 |
600 |
32,847 |
|
2009 |
179 |
21,895 |
|
2010 |
92 |
20,815 |
|
2011 |
90 |
28,697 |
|
2012 |
49 |
28,045 |
|
2013 |
87 |
22,260 |
|
2014 |
173 |
22,955 |
|
2015 |
178 |
27,493 |
|
2016 to end April* |
67 |
11,524 |
* Figures are provisional.
102. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the Value Added Tax generated from the sale of new residential housing and the number of cases in each of the years 2006 to 2016 to date, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16512/16]
View answerI am informed by Revenue that it is not possible to furnish precise figures of the amount of VAT collected from the residential housing sector as the information provided to Revenue on VAT returns does not require the yield from specific transactions or activities to be identified. However, based on housing completion data published by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and other sources, an estimate of the amount of VAT generated from new residential housing completions for the years 2006 to 2015 is shown in the following Table. Figures are unavailable at present for 2016. With regard to the number of cases for these years, this information is not available.
|
Year |
Estimated VAT Yield on Completions (€m) |
|
2006 |
2,632 |
|
2007 |
2,399 |
|
2008 |
1,225 |
|
2009 |
542 |
|
2010 |
423 |
|
2011 |
276 |
|
2012 |
206 |
|
2013 |
177 |
|
2014 |
281 |
|
2015 |
400 |
