Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I move amendmentNo. 5:

In page 7, subsection (1), line 4, to delete "38(4), 58(9), 59(8), 60(6), 61(3)," and substitute "58(9), 59(8), 60(6),".

In the Bill as published, regulations 38(4) and 61(3) were included in the list in section 9 dealing with penalties for conviction on indictment of the Reinsurance Regulations 2006. The severe nature of the penalties for indictable offences in the financial services industry are such that they should only be applied in circumstances where it is clear that the offence being committed is of a serious nature. As that is not always the case concerning regulations 38(4) and 61(3), it was felt that a summary prosecution for the application of the administrative sanctions process would be more appropriate in such circumstances. The Financial Regulator has no objections to such an amendment and is satisfied that the key offences for which there is a need to have an indictment provision option are captured in section 9.

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