Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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150. To ask the Minister for Finance the estimated saving that would accrue from moving the entire cost of regulation of the financial sector onto the industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21176/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Central Bank's total funding requirement for financial regulation activity is determined on an annual basis by the resources required to discharge its legal responsibilities under domestic and EU law. Section 32D and 32E of the Central Bank Act 1942, as amended, provide that the Central Bank Commission may make regulations relating to the imposition of levies and fees on the financial services sector in respect of the recoupment of the costs of financial regulation.

As it stands, the financial services industry currently funds 65% of the costs incurred by the Central Bank for financial regulation, with certain exceptions including the banks which had participated in the Eligible Liabilities Guarantee (ELG) Scheme, namely AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB, which are required to fund 100% of the Central Bank's regulatory costs. Credit Unions currently contribute approximately 8% to the cost of their regulation.

The industry funding levies currently recoup 65% of the costs of financial regulation from industry (with certain sectoral exceptions). This means that the subvention from the Central Bank amounts to approximately 35% of the total cost. What this translates to in monetary terms will be determined by the resources required by the Bank to discharge its legal responsibilities during a given year.

The total cost of financial regulation in 2017 was approximately €171 million; industry levies were approximately €95 million with the remainder funded by way of subvention by the Bank. Therefore in the order of €76 million of the Central Bank's 2017 surplus income was redirected to make up for the difference between the costs of regulation and the funding received from the financial services industry, which would otherwise have been surrendered to the Exchequer. As a point of reference, the Central Bank surplus income for 2017 surrendered to the Exchequer amounted to €2,101 million.