Dr. Amie Lajoie:

On the complex nature of these firms and how they operate. In preparation for this meeting, I looked into how many of these firms are currently authorised with the Central Bank. There are different classifications. For example, we thought we had been working with a firm that was under the categorisation of a credit-servicing firm when it was actually a retail-credit firm. FLAC will probably be better able to speak on the differences between those entities. As of 13 February 2023, according to the Central Bank, we have 17 authorised retail credit firms in Ireland and 26 transitional. Most of those were introduced back in August 2022, so the field is obviously expanding.