Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)
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165. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of applications under Section 149 of the Consumer Credit Act 1995 that have been approved, partially approved and rejected in the years 2008 to 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39228/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I, as Minister for Finance, have no statutory role in relation to bank charges imposed by regulated financial institutions. This is a commercial matter for the lending institutions concerned. The Central Bank has advised me that under Section 149 of the Consumer Credit Act, 1995 (as amended), credit institutions, including prescribed credit institutions, and bureaux de change must notify the Central Bank of Ireland if they wish to introduce a new customer charge or increase an existing customer charge, for providing any of the following services: making and receiving payments; providing foreign exchange facilities; providing and granting credit; maintaining and administrating transaction accounts.

The Central Bank assesses these notifications based on four criteria as set out in the legislation: The promotion of fair competition; The commercial justification; The effect new charges or increases in existing charges will have on customers; and Passing on costs to customers.

(The Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013 provides that Section 149 is not applied to new credit institutions in their first three years of commencing business in Ireland.) Credit institutions may make a submission to the Central Bank under Section 149 (11) requesting an exemption from making a notification in respect of any charge. A notification made under Section 149 may contain a single charge or a number of charges. Having considered the proposed charge(s) under the assessment criteria as set out in the legislation, the proposed charges may be rejected, approved at lower levels than requested by the entity or approved in full.

Approvals are issued in the form of a Letter of Direction (setting out the maximum permitted charge) and the entity is legally bound to comply with this Direction. Credit institutions are free to impose any pricing differentials for the service up to the permitted maximum and are free to waive fees at their discretion.

The Central Bank provided the following data on the number of applications that have been approved, partially approved and rejected in the years 2008-2012 as follows:

Section 149 notifications 2008-2012

Note: (‘partial approval’ figures may include some rejected charges).