Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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215. To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the delays in having claims for compensation finalised and submitted to a body (details supplied) for persons that lost investments with a company (details supplied); the measures he proposes to implement to eliminate these delays and have compensation payments made at an early date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9969/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I have been informed that to date, the ICCL has received 1,977 claims for compensation from former clients of Custom House Capital Ltd (CHC). All claims received are passed to the Administrator, Mr Kieran Wallace, who is required to certify the compensable loss involved for each claimant, following which notification, the ICCL will arrange payment of compensation to the investors concerned.

As at 24 February 2017, the ICCL had paid out over €7.2 million to some 570 claimants. It is estimated by the Administrator that further compensation amounting to €12.9 million will arise in respect of the c. 1,407 claims still outstanding, resulting in a final compensation bill of €19.7 million. This amount has been fully provided for in the ICCL's accounts.

Under the terms of the Act the ICCL is obliged to pay compensation within three months of the certification of the relevant claim by the appointed Administrator of the investment firm concerned and notification to the ICCL. The liquidation and administration of CHC has proved to be a complex and protracted exercise partly due to a number of legal issues arising in the course of the liquidation of the firm.

Unfortunately, this has resulted in lengthy delays in the certification of claims by the Administrator.  ICCL have been seeking to address these matters on an on-going basis and have made proposals to the Administrator regarding the acceleration of the certification process and are awaiting further developments.

During 2016 the Board of ICCL established a working group to formulate potential remedies to certification delays experienced in current claim cases. In November 2016 this working group issued a report to myself and the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland wherein conclusions and recommendations were highlighted with the general objective of improving the outcome for the clients concerned.

While a number of the proposals put forward are being progressed by the ICCL, others would encompass amendments to legislation.

ICCL is currently consulting with the Central Bank, as the supervisory authority for investor compensation and once completed will then engage with my Department on these proposed amendments.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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216. To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the very serious concerns regarding the level of compensation being paid by the a body (details supplied) to persons who lost major investments through a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9970/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Irish Investor Compensation Scheme (the "ICS"), operated by the Investor Compensation Company DAC (the "ICCL"), originates from the EU Directive 97/9/EC ("ICSD") which requires each Member State to establish, on a minimum harmonisation basis, an Investor Compensation Scheme to ensure that small investors can receive statutory levels of compensation when they suffer losses to their assets as a consequence of fraud. 

I have been informed by the ICCL that the €20,000 maximum compensation limit currently in place has satisfied the claims of the majority of small investors in the nine compensation cases that it has handled since 1998.  On the basis of advice provided to the ICCL from Mr Kieran Wallace the Administrator of CHC, the average compensation payment in the case of CHC is estimated at circa €10,000 per investor.  

In addition, I would like to note that since the failure of CHC in 2011 the Central Bank of Ireland has been provided with extensive new powers to help prevent the loss of client assets as occurred in that case.  These powers relate to new rules for safekeeping of client assets, new rules in respect of key management positions and enhanced monitoring and enforcement powers for the Central Bank.