John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 100:

In page 65, between lines 5 and 6, to insert the following:

87.—Section 28 of the Central Bank Act 1997 is amended by the insertion of the following paragraph in the definition of "retail credit firm" (inserted by section 19 of the Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2007):

"(dd) a charitable organisation within the meaning of the Charities Act 2008, or".".

To avoid the potential for dual regulation and consistent with the approach taken elsewhere in the Bill, it is proposed that social finance lenders be regulated by the charities regulatory authority and exempted from supervision under the financial services regulatory elements of the Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2007. Social finance lenders provide repayable loan finance at affordable rates to community-based projects and local development initiatives, including individual and community micro-enterprises, that yield a social and financial return. This approach has been developed in consultation with the Department of Finance.

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