Ms Anna Marie Finnegan:

A lot of work went into preparing the consultation paper. As Mr. Sibley has mentioned, this involved a lot of engagement with a number of different parties. He has mentioned the representative bodies and the individual credit unions. We also spoke to the Housing Finance Agency and to the relevant regulator. It was important for us to get a detailed understanding of how funding for the AHB sector could be provided by the credit unions. This certainly informed the proposals that we have set out in consultation paper CP109.

Reference was also made to the structure or vehicle that might be used here and this is an important point. In the consultation paper we specifically asked for views as to what might be the most appropriate structure. We are certainly interested in the responses we got on this and these will ultimately form how we might frame a regulation. It is very important that the regulation be drafted in such a way as to facilitate the options that are on the table. What we have seen discussed to date has been very much based on some form of collective investment scheme that would provide an opportunity for credit unions to pool funds and provide them to AHBs. We have engaged with the relevant bodies and will continue to do so as this informs the framing of any change to the regulation that we may make.