Insights

The Individual Accountability Framework (IAF) impacts all Regulated Financial Services Providers (RFSPs) and individuals who perform controlled functions (CFs) on their behalf. Certain RFSPs (including most credit institutions, insurance firms and MiFID firms) are additionally in scope for the Senior Executive Accountability Regime (SEAR).

The Small Company Administrative Rescue Process (SCARP) supports directors of SMEs in restructuring their respective companies in an efficient and cost-effective manner, thereby enabling them to continue to trade.

European Banking Authority (EBA) published final report on guidelines on Overall Recovery Capacity (ORC) in recovery planning on 19 July 2023, following a consultation paper in December 2022. The main change following the consultation is the implementation timeline for capital recovery options is now longer at 18-months (previously 12-months). These guidelines apply from 3 months after the publication date or 19 October 2023.

Small Company Administrative Rescue Process (SCARP) is a new restructuring process available to small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), and it is likely to negatively impact creditors in relation to funds outstanding as at the date the process commences.

This ECB paper is relevant to banks with derivatives and trading books; it explores the operational aspects and hidden costs associated with the wind-down of a bank’s trading book. An orderly wind-down of a trading book may be a recovery option or an element of a bank’s preferred resolution strategy. This paper details principles of ECB’s supervisory expectations with respect to both recovery and resolution planning.

The Government introduced the Small Company Administrative Rescue Process (SCARP) to provide a restructuring option to SMEs similar to the examinership process; however, SCARP is quicker, more cost-effective and does not require the close oversight of the Court. It is an accessible restructuring option for SMEs, proving successful thus far with more than 70% of cases in 2022 having been approved by creditors.

Our focus in this paper is to develop decision making models using a range of advanced machine learning techniques. We explore three different methodologies to measure the discriminatory power between good and bad borrowers using a credit card portfolio dataset. The main hypothesis is that advanced modelling techniques lead to more efficient estimates and higher discriminatory power.

The Irish Banking Culture Board (IBCB) has released its 2023 “éist” report which details public sentiment towards Irish retail banks. Chief amongst the IBCB’s findings was a rise in public trust towards retail banks.

As a result of Brexit, and particularly following the introduction of the UK’s Financial Services and Markets Act, there is a potential for increasing divergence between EU and UK financial services regulation.

On 28 April 2021, the Irish Government transposed IORP II (Institution for Occupational Retirement Provision), an EU directive on the activities and supervision of pension schemes, into law.

On 30 January, the Central Bank published Guidance for (Re)insurance Undertakings on Intragroup Transactions and Exposures following a consultation that ended in September 2022.

The recent High Court tracker mortgage decision again brought sharply into focus the onerous nature of potential remediation exercises. Increasing regulatory pressure, ever-changing customer expectations, rising customer vulnerability and a competitive marketplace, deem an increase in remediation requirements for financial services firms highly likely.