Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 December 2019
68. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the number of licence applications made to the Central Bank between 2014 and 2019 by the type of financial services provider, that is, retail credit firm and so on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51025/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Central Bank informs me that as a general point, the Bank cannot comment on regulatory relationships or applications for authorisation. The Central Bank is committed to providing a clear, open and transparent authorisation process while ensuring a rigorous assessment of the applicable regulatory standards. To support this, on a semi-annual basis, the Central Bank publishes a Regulatory Service Standards Performance Report, which is up to date to H1 2019. The document sets out the Central Bank’s performance against Service Standards that it has committed to in respect of authorisation of FSPs and Investment Funds processing of PCF IQ applications and contact management. These reports can be found on the Bank's website in the following link: https://www.centralbank.ie/docs/default-source/regulation/how-we-regulate/authorisation/service-standards-performance-reports/regulatory-service-standards-performance-report-h2-2018.pdf
The Central Bank can, however, more broadly comment on the number of licences granted on an ongoing basis. Information on these is provided in the following table, categorised by type of provider.
|
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 (to date) |
|
|
Retail Intermediaries, including - Investment Intermediaries - Insurance/Reinsurance Intermediaries - Mortgage Intermediaries |
194 |
214 |
180 |
231 |
139 |
144 |
|
Money Transmitters and Bureaux de Change |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Moneylenders* |
38 |
39 |
39 |
39 |
38 |
35 |
|
Retail Credit Firms & Home Reversion Firms |
1 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
|
Credit Servicing Firms |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A** |
8 |
1 |
0*** |
|
Payment Institutions |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
|
Electronic Money Institutions |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
|
Debt Management Firms |
1 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
Funds (including sub-funds) |
807 |
953 |
775 |
828 |
1123 |
625 |
|
Internally Managed AIFMs |
18 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
ICAV registrations |
N/A |
129 |
145 |
144 |
125 |
60 |
|
Banking licenses |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Insurance and reinsurance undertaking |
7 |
9 |
2 |
6 |
6 |
8 |
|
Trust or Company Service Providers |
30 |
7 |
5 |
27 |
4 |
1 |
|
MiFID - Investment firms |
4 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
20 |
|
MiFID - Branches of overseas firms |
5 |
7 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
|
Non-Retail Investment Business Firms |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Fund Service Providers |
8 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
19 |
15 |
|
AIFMs - Authorised External AIFMs |
54 |
10 |
4 |
7 |
17 |
17 |
|
AIFMs - Registered External AIFMs |
25 |
6 |
8 |
13 |
6 |
5 |
|
Post Authorisation Extensions**** |
- |
- |
- |
10 |
7 |
14 |
|
Acquiring Transactions |
52 |
47 |
71 |
59 |
52 |
51 |
*A moneylender’s licence is valid for a 12 month period and must be renewed annually prior to expiry. This category includes licences issued for the first time and renewals.
**Part V of the Central Bank Act, 1997 was amended by the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing) Act 2015 to provide for a regulatory regime in respect of credit servicing firms, bringing such firms within the Central Bank’s regulatory remit. The first authorisations were issued in 2017.
***37 Credit Servicing Firms have notified the Central Bank that they wish to avail of the transitional provisions provided for under Section 34FA(1) of the Central Bank Act, 1997 as further amended by the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing) Act 2018 in H1 2019.
**** Refers to existing authorised firms that extended their regulatory permissions during the period.
