Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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98. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of SME loans owned by unregulated loan owners; the number of unregulated loan owners in the market here that own SME loans; the number of SME loans owned by unregulated loan owners that are in arrears up to 90 days, between 90 and 180 days and between 180 and 360 days; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53757/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I have been informed by the Central Bank that it does not routinely publish specific data on entities who are not regulated by the Central Bank and it is therefore not possible to provide the numbers requested by the Deputy.

I would however refer the Deputy to the Report on Mortgage Arrears which the Central Bank provided to the Minister for Finance in June 2016 () which provides details of the total number of loans/value of loans owned by unregulated entities as at the end of June 2016.

Loans can be sold by regulated entities to entities that are not regulated by the Central Bank.  In July 2015, the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing) Act 2015 (“the 2015 Act”) was introduced to fill the consumer protection gap where loans are sold by the original lender to an unregulated firm.

Under the 2015 Act, if the firm which bought loans from the original lender is an unregulated firm, then the loans must be serviced by a ‘credit servicing firm’ (Credit Servicing Firms are typically firms that manage or administer credit agreements such as mortgages or other loans on behalf of unregulated entities).  Credit Servicing Firms are required to obtain authorisation from the Central Bank in order to conduct credit servicing activities as defined in the 2015 Act. A register of firms who are authorised to provide credit servicing (including on a transitional basis) is available on the Central Bank website.

Credit servicing firms must act in accordance with the requirements of Irish financial services law that applies to ‘regulated financial service providers’. This ensures that consumers, whose loans are sold to another firm, maintain the same regulatory protections that they had prior to the sale, including under the various statutory Codes of Conduct issued by the Central Bank.