Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 30 May 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Brexit - Recent Developments and Future Negotiations: Discussion (Resumed)

4:00 pm

Mr. Ed Sibley:

That is a basic part of the authorisation process and ongoing supervision. We have absolutely no tolerance for shell companies. There is an inherent tension in that Brexit is imposing a cost on firms that they would not necessarily want to have imposed on them and that they would not have been looking for. There is a tension in terms of the activities firms may want to retain in the United Kingdom, but at the same time we will absolutely not stand for shell companies. What we are looking at is making sure there will be substance in activities relocated to Ireland, that the decisions, strategies, risk appetite and risk and control frameworks will be driven from Dublin. That is part of the authorisation process. We will ensure that will remain the case through ongoing supervision. We are also actively considering what will happen if one of these firms fails as part of the authorisation process. What would happen if it were to get into trouble, or its parent company or a sister company were to get into trouble? How would it deal with it? How would it recover in that circumstance and if it was unable to recover, how would the problem be solved? We are actively thinking about that matter in terms of the firms operating today and it is at the forefront of our minds for the firms coming in to make sure these systemic risks will be managed to the extent that they can be.