Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy is aware, the Central Bank does not maintain a record of the number of commercial loans, including SME loans, that have been sold on by the original underwriter. However, it has stated that portfolio sales are considered as part of the normal supervisory engagement. More importantly for individual consumers, legislation and regulations implemented by the Oireachtas and the Central Bank protect SMEs when dealing with regulated and unregulated firms. Under the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Act 2015, the protections for SME borrowers are in line with those of mortgage owners. In cases where SME loans are sold by a regulated lender to an unregulated firm, the affected borrower retains the same level of protection as they had prior to sale. These regulatory protections are under the various statutory codes, the consumer protection code, the code of conduct on mortgage arrears, the lending to small and medium enterprise regulations, and the minimum competency code issued by the Central Bank of Ireland.

The transfer of a loan from one entity to another does not change the terms of the contract or the borrower's rights and obligations under the original contract. I will bring the fact that the Deputy has raised the issue to the Minister's attention.

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