Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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44. To ask the Minister for Finance if a bank (details supplied) has sold mortgages to a US investment group with another company contracted to service the loans; the number of mortgages that were sold; the number that were in arrears at the time of sale; if there is an obligation on the bank to inform customers of the names of the purchasers of their mortgages as well as the company contracted to service the loans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16111/21]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, as Minister for Finance I have no role in the day to day operations of any bank operating within the State including banks in which the State has a shareholding. I'm precluded from intervening on behalf of any individual customer in any particular bank. Decisions in relation to commercial matters are the sole responsibility of the board and management of the banks, which must be run on an independent and commercial basis. The independence of banks in which the state has a shareholding is protected by Relationship Frameworks which are legally binding documents that cannot be changed unilaterally. These frameworks, which are publicly available, were insisted upon by the European Commission to protect competition in the Irish market 

Non-performing exposures (NPE's) remain at an elevated level across the European banking system and addressing this issue is one of the key priorities for the European banking supervisor. In Ireland significant progress has been made across the banking sector in reducing the level of NPEs since the financial crisis mainly through loan by loan restructuring in addition to a number of loan disposals.

Despite this progress, the level of NPEs in the Irish system remains well above the European average and some time ago the supervisory authority tasked the management and board of each institution with developing and implementing a strategy to address this challenge. The banks have no choice but to respond.

You will recall that in 2018 my Department brought forward legislation to ensure that the contractual rights and obligations of a customer are not altered by the sale of a loan and customers will continue to benefit from, and fall under the scope of applicable regulations, whether with their bank or a third party servicing entity. In this regard - the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Act ensures that relevant borrowers whose loans are sold are afforded the regulatory protections they had prior to the sale. All of the customer's rights under their existing terms and conditions will remain in place post transfer.

Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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45. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will address with mortgage providers their individual discretion on mortgage protection requirements pre-drawdown for persons with an underlying health condition (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16120/21]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Under section 126 of the Consumer Credit Act 1995 a mortgage lender is obliged to make sure that a mortgage applicant has mortgage protection insurance in place before granting a housing loan.  However, the Act also provides for a number of limited exemptions to this statutory obligation where: 

1. the house in respect of which the loan is made is, in the mortgage lender's opinion, not intended for use as the principal residence of the borrower or of his or her dependants;

2. loans to persons who belong to a class of persons which would not be acceptable to an insurer, or which would only be acceptable to an insurer at a premium significantly higher than that payable by borrowers generally;

3. loans to persons who are over 50 years of age at the time the loan is approved;

4. loans to persons who, at the time the loan is made, have otherwise arranged life assurance, providing for payment of a sum, in the event of death, of not less than the amount of the estimated outstanding principal amount. 

The Central Bank indicates that it expects all lenders to adhere to their statutory obligations in relation to the offering of mortgage credit to prospective borrowers, including their obligations under section 126 of the Consumer Protection Act 1995.   

However, it may also be the case that, in circumstances where there is no specific statutory obligation on a mortgage lender to arrange for mortgage protection insurance in association with a housing loan, an individual mortgage lender may as a matter of its own commercial policy require a mortgage borrower to put in place such an insurance policy as a condition for obtaining mortgage credit.  That would be a commercial decision for an individual mortgage lender and it is not possible for me to instruct mortgage lenders on their lending policies and individual lending decisions.  In the same way it is not possible for me interfere with the decisions insurance companies may make on applications for life insurance cover or direct such companies to provide cover to specific individuals. That is also a commercial matter and decision for individual insurers to make in line with their own risk policies and analysis.  However, if a mortgage lender requires a consumer to hold a policy of insurance related to a housing loan, the lender is obliged to accept a policy selected by the consumer provided that such a policy has a level of guarantee equivalent to the amount that would be required to repay the outstanding credit or to insure the value of the security.  

If a person is not satisfied with the way a regulated mortgage provider or insurance provider has dealt with them in relation to an application for a mortgage or for life insurance, or they believe that the regulated entity is not following the requirements of the Central Bank’s codes and regulations or other financial services law, they should make a complaint directly to the regulated entity. If they are still not satisfied with the response from the regulated entity, the response to their complaint from the regulated entity is required to include details for the borrower on how to refer their complaint to the statutory Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman.