Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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140. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of expressions of interest, new applications for licences and applications for the extension of permissions the Central Bank has received from banks, insurers and asset managers since 24 June 2016. [38135/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Central Bank has seen a significant number of enquiries that are Brexit related since the June referendum across all sectors including banking, insurance, investment firms, funds and fund service providers, payments and fintech.

The vast majority of enquiries have been exploratory in nature, however recently they are seeing a number of these enquiries beginning to advance further with enquirers starting to firm up their intentions, including possible plans to seek an authorisation.

It is difficult at this stage for the Bank to predict what this might mean in terms of actual numbers of submitted applications generally. Firms making enquiries can be thought of in three broad categories: new entrants seeking first time authorisations; currently authorised firms seeking to expand existing operations in Ireland; and firms seeking to reverse plans to wind down operations in Ireland as a result of the Brexit vote.

As part of its authorisation mandate, the Central Bank is committed to providing a clear, consistent, open and transparent authorisation process, while ensuring a rigorous assessment of the applicable regulatory standards. To ensure transparent and predictable authorisation timelines for high-volume processes, the Bank publishes on a semi-annual basis its Regulatory Service Standards Performance Report. These reports, which are available on its website, provide real transparency around the authorisation process for firms including measurement against standards to which the Bank is committed in terms of application processing across each of the sectors that it regulates.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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141. To ask the Minister for Finance the timeframe in which the Central Bank is in a position to answer applications for licences from banks, asset managers and insurers; the way in which those timeframes compare to the situation before 24 June 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38136/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Central Bank that the assessment of authorisation applications and the approach taken differs depending upon the type of firm and sector.  In some sectors such as funds licensing, the turnaround time is a matter of days. In other areas the timing prescribed by EU law is a matter of months, once an application is considered as complete.  In between these extremes there is a wide variety of timeframes depending on the sector and type of business being proposed.  Actual time will depend on the type of business for which a license is being sought and the extent to which the authorisation procedure can be considered more or less standardised or more or less complex.

In relation to unique and complex applications, the authorisation process is inevitably more layered than routine cases, requiring a substantial commitment of resources and the assembly of dedicated project teams with the requisite technical skills. It is also important to note that since the establishment of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) in 2014, the ECB, with input of the Central Bank as the national competent authority (NCA), is the competent authority for the granting and revocation of banking licences.

Timelines for applications processing are set out on a sector by sector basis on the Central Bank website. The length of the application process is set from the date of submission of a complete application, which in itself can be a challenging exercise for firms and take some time to achieve. This process can include an important period of engagement, discussion and back and forth on key issues before the application is considered complete. To assist this and to ensure that the process is as transparent as possible, the Central Bank regularly meets and engages with firms in advance of the completed application being submitted. This can be particularly helpful in more complex cases.

To ensure transparent and predictable authorisation timelines for high-volume processes, the Bank publishes on a semi-annual basis its Regulatory Service Standards Performance Report. These reports, which are available on the Bank's website, provide real transparency around the authorisation process for firms including measurement against standards to which the Bank is committed in terms of application processing across each of the sectors it regulates.

The Central Bank has not amended its stated target timelines for any sector since June 2016.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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142. To ask the Minister for Finance the efforts the Central Bank has made to increase resources in order that it can cope with the increase in applications in the aftermath of Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38137/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Central Bank that its workforce planning for next year, which is currently being finalised, reflects the additional resources needed to deal with applications that is expected to come its way. This will take the form both of an increase in staff, that is additional staff recruited to the Bank, in areas where it already knows that it will need additional numbers, and also contingency numbers for those areas where it thinks they might be needed.

It is also to be noted that across all of the sectors that the Bank regulates, it adopts a risk-based approach to supervision, articulated in its "PRISM" framework. This is a dynamic approach to supervision which means that priority areas of focus are kept under constant review with resources being deployed to meet the evolving priorities. The idea that the Bank will redeploy resources to address areas of rising demand, such as Brexit presents, is a very natural one and one that it is already implementing.

The Governor has previously indicated that where further resources are necessary due to an expanded universe of regulated and supervised firms, the Bank has the ability to effectively re-prioritise where it needs to meet any increased level of demand and complexity, and if required, the Central Bank will increase staff numbers as necessary.