I propose to take Questions Nos. 180 and 181 together.
In August 2004 under the Administrative Sanctions Procedure (ASP), the Financial Regulator was given the power to impose Administrative sanctions on "regulated financial service providers" and on "persons concerned in the management of those entities" for breaches of prescribed contraventions of certain Designated Acts and Statutory Instruments.
Following a public consultation, in October 2005 the Financial Regulator adopted a general policy of dealing with cases where prescribed contraventions were also potentially criminal offences, under the ASP, instead of bringing summary prosecutions. This is in light of the limited penalties available pursuant to summary criminal prosecutions.
In 2005 the Financial Regulator was also given additional sanctioning powers under the Market Abuse (Directive 2003/6/EC) Regulations 2005 (the Market Abuse ASP) (to impose sanctions on various entities) and under S.I. No. 324 of 2005 — Prospectus (Directive 2003/71/EC) Regulations 2005. In 2007 the Financial Regulator was given further sanctioning powers under S.I. No. 277 of 2007 — Transparency (Directive 2004/109/EC) Regulations 2007. I am informed that to date the Financial Regulator has imposed Fines amounting to €7,372,500, 7 Disqualifications ranging from 1 to 5 years and 19 Reprimands. Details of all sanctions in any given year are published annually in the Financial Regulator's Annual Report. The sanctions imposed to date are broken down as follows:
2006
Sanctions were imposed under the ASP on 2 regulated financial service providers and upon 3 persons concerned in the management of those entities. These resulted in 3 individuals being disqualified from being persons concerned in the management of regulated financial services provider for a specified period [5 years and 18 months].
2007
Sanctions were imposed under the ASP on 4 regulated financial service providers. These resulted in: 3 Reprimands being imposed; and 1 Disqualification for a specified period [2 Years].
Market Abuse ASP Procedure: Sanctions were imposed upon 1 Company and 1 individual. These resulted in a fine of €5,000.
2008
Sanctions were imposed under the ASP on 9 regulated financial service providers and upon 5 persons concerned in the management of those entities. These resulted in: 10 Fines being imposed which totalled €3.695 million, 9 Reprimands and 2 Disqualifications for specified periods [5 years and 1 year]
Market Abuse Administrative Sanction Procedure: Sanctions were imposed upon 1 Company. These resulted in a fine of €10,000.
2009
Sanctions were imposed under the ASP on 10 regulated financial service providers and upon 1 person concerned in the management of those entities. These resulted in: 6 Fines being imposed which totalled €3,672,500, 8 Reprimands and 1 Disqualification for a specified period [2 years].
The Deputy will be aware that there are a number of offences contained within the Central Bank Acts 1942 to 2004. I have asked my officials to compile the relevant information. I will write directly to the Deputy when the information comes to hand.