Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 55: To ask the Minister for Finance his views regarding bank charges (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27604/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Section 149(1) of the Consumer Credit Act, 1995 (as amended) requires Credit Institutions to submit a notification to the Central Bank of Ireland of their intention to introduce a new charge or increase an existing charge imposed on customers for a service. Furthermore Section 149A of the Act extends this notification requirement to the 'holders of an authorisation'; namely bureaux de change. Following submission, the Central Bank considers these requests assessing each under the following criteria, as set out in the legislation: the promotion of fair competition, the commercial justification submitted in respect of the proposal, the impact new charges or increases in existing charges will have on customers, passing on costs to customers.

Having analysed the proposed charge(s) under the assessment criteria as set out under the legislation and referred to above, the options open to the Central Bank are that the proposed charges are: Ø approved in full, Ø approved at lower levels than requested by the entity or, Ø rejected.

Approvals are issued in the form of a 'Letter of Direction' which sets out the maximum amount a credit institution can charge. It is important to note that: it is an offence under the Act for credit institutions to impose charges that have not been notified to the Central Bank and subsequently been approved, where approval has been granted to a credit institution, it may introduce these charges up to that maximum approved limit. However, an institution may choose not to apply charges immediately for which it has approval for commercial or competitive reasons but may later apply such charges at its own discretion.

I have no plans to amend the current legislation in this area.