Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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67. To ask the Minister for Finance the situation for Irish mortgage holders who have a tracker mortgage linked to the European Central Bank rate with a British bank no longer operating here (details supplied) in view of the likelihood of Britain leaving the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21732/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will know that all mortgages are subject to the terms and conditions as set out in the mortgage contract. However, I am not aware of any reason why the change described by the Deputy should impact on mortgage holders.

I understand that the bank to which the Deputy refers engaged in the sale of loans. The Deputy will be aware that the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Act, 2015 was enacted on 8 July 2015. The 2015 Act introduced a regulatory regime for a new type of entity called a 'credit servicing firm'. Credit Servicing Firms are now subject to the provisions of Irish financial services law that apply to 'regulated financial service providers'. This ensures that relevant borrowers, whose loans are sold to third parties, maintain the same regulatory protections they had prior to the sale, including under the various statutory codes. Under the Act, a firm must either be regulated themselves or the loans must be serviced by a credit servicing firm who is regulated by the Central Bank. In addition, it should be noted that 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 contract.