Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are back to the situation with the insurance company some time ago. An entity is already regulated if it is regulated anywhere in the EU. If we are in Greece or Malta and the owner of the loan is in Greece, it is deemed to be regulated in Ireland under reciprocal regulatory agreements. If a Greek bank buys the loans and has an exclusive arrangement with a debt servicing company to manage them in Ireland, the debt servicing company is not regulated and we rely solely on the Greek regulator, which is regulated. The Minister should reconsider it for Report Stage. There is a slight difference in emphasis between what the Minister of State said and what the Minister, Deputy Noonan, said. In most situations, both bodies are regulated. The banks which own the loans are regulated generally in Ireland and if they outsource it to a credit servicing company which is doing the hands-on work, it is regulated. In most situations, we have double regulation. Generally, the owner of the loan is regulated, unless it is in Canada. The Minister of State has always maintained that the person doing the credit servicing arrangement was regulated. Now, we find that if the bank is in Greece and regulated by the Greek central bank, or whoever they are out there, the Minister of State is saying if it has an exclusive credit servicing arrangement, the credit servicing company does not have to be regulated because it has an exclusive arrangement with an entity that is regulated through the institution which is regulated by the Greek central bank. It is not good enough.