Dáil debates

Thursday, 14 February 2019

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions

EU Directives

10:40 am

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy and Mr. Carthy, MEP, will be aware, the legislative package of the Commission and its objectives seek ways in which we can create a safer and more stable and resilient financial sector. Part of this was the implementation of revised capital requirements for banks under the capital requirements directive and the capital requirements regulation. This aspect of the package of measures, known as CRD IV, includes stronger prudential requirements for banks, ensuring they are adequately capitalised and less susceptible to liquidity issues.

Another part was the proposed directive on credit servicers, credit purchasers and the recovery of collateral.

It now appears likely that part of the directive dealing with collateral called "advanced extrajudicial collateral enforcement" will be separated out from the directive and considered at a later point.

The remaining part of the directive under active consideration would impose authorisation requirements on credit servicers similar to those imposed by the consumer protection Act 2015. It also provides that credit purchasers must appoint an authorised credit servicer to service their credit. Unlike the consumer protection Act 2018, it does not require such credit purchasers to be regulated or authorised by the Central Bank.

The directive is being considered at working group level in Brussels and final agreement has not been reached. My officials will represent our legislative stance, whereby the owners of credit, as well as the credit servicing firms, are regulated.

It is fair to say we did not agree with the directive as initially drafted and have sought multiple amendments to it. As we are further down the road with this experience, we are now working hard to secure changes to the proposed text.

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