Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

This amendment is based on a misunderstanding. The regulatory authority is structured as a constituent part of the bank and the consumer director is a member of the regulatory authority. Section 33C of the principal Act makes it clear that it is the regulatory authority which has the function of ensuring compliance by finance institutions with their obligations under financial services legislation. It will therefore be the regulatory authority, not the bank, which will exercise the powers conferred by this Part regarding compliance statements. There is nothing to prevent the authority from giving the consumer director the authority to act in its name under this Part.

On the second amendment, section 27A already empowers the authority not only to issue guidelines on compliance statements but also more general guidelines on the governance of financial institutions. All such guidelines must be published in Iris Oifigiúil. It is very likely that the authority will wish to develop and publish such guidelines to supplement the guidance and corporate governance that have already been issued using existing powers. It would not be helpful to be too prescriptive about the content of such guidelines since the compliance statement requirement is discretionary.

It is important that any such guidelines take account of the particular features of financial institutions and the Minister does not believe we should tie the hands of the authority in this area.