Mr. Ger Deering:

The EU has a network in place called FIN-NET. I am on the executive committee of that network. It plays a very important role. It is not often understood that we regularly receive complaints from other countries such as Cyprus, Malaysia and all over the world in cases in which the financial service provider concerned is regulated in Ireland. This occurs where a provider based in Ireland sells a product to a person resident elsewhere. There are certain complications. It depends on the law of the country that pertains to the contract. Issues such as that have to be dealt with.

That network facilitates us to refer complaints. Some of our colleagues refer complaints to us and we refer complaints to them. The EU is very conscious of the fact that if it wants to enable the sale of products across the EU, there has to be a complaint mechanism. There has to be a method by which one can follow up with a complaint in the event of the purchase of a product in another state.

Interestingly, I feel that the powers that the Oireachtas has given the office of the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman here are very strong in comparison to some of our colleagues. That is something that we note when we meet our colleagues at EU level.