Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015

Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015 Skip to content Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Gaeilge Léim go dtí an t-ábhar Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach English Gaeilge English Produced by the Office of the Attorney General Táirgthe ag Oifig an Ard-Aighne Home Legislation Acts of the Oireachtas Statutory Instruments Pre-1922 Legislation Constitution External Resources Bills (Houses of the Oireachtas) Iris Oifigiúil / Official Gazette Revised Acts (LRC) Classified List of Legislation (LRC) Translations (acts.ie) Translations (Houses of the Oireachtas) Government Publications for Sale EU Law (EUR-Lex) FAQ Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Search Baile Reachtaíocht Achtanna an Oireachtais Ionstraimí Reachtúla Reachtaíocht Réamh-1922 Bunreacht Acmhainní Seachtracha Billí (Tithe an Oireachtais) Iris Oifigiúil Achtanna Athbhreithnithe (CAD) (An Coimisiún um Athchóiriú an Dlí) Liosta Rangaithe Reachtaíochta Aistriúcháin (achtanna.ie) Aistriúcháin (Tithe an Oireachtais) Foilseacháin Rialtais ar Díol Dlí AE (EUR-Lex) CCanna (Ceisteanna Coitianta) Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach Cuardach TitleTeideal Year(s) or rangeBliain nó blianta nó raon TypeCineál All Legislation Acts Statutory Instruments Advanced SearchCuardach Casta HomeBaile ActsAchtanna 2015 Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015 Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015 Permanent Page URL View by SectionAmharc de réir Ailt View Full ActAmharc ar an Acht Iomlán Bill History Stair Bille Commencement, Amendments, SIs made under the Act Tosach Feidhme, Leasuithe, IRí arna ndéanamh faoin Acht Open PDFOscail PDF Print Full ActPriontáil an tAcht Iomlán Number 37 of 2015 Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015 CONTENTS

PART 1

Preliminary and General Section

Section 1

Section 2

PART 2

Agreement on the Transfer and Mutualisation of Contributions to the Single Resolution Fund

Section 3

Section 4

Section 5

PART 3

Deposit Guarantee Scheme

Section 6

Section 7

Section 8

Section 9

Section 10

Section 11

Section 12

Section 13

Section 14

PART 4

Continuation of Insurance Regulations

Section 15

Section 16

Section 17

Section 18

Section 19

Section 20

Section 21

PART 5

Amendment of National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Act 2014

Section 22

PART 1

Preliminary and General Short title, collective citation, construction and commencement 1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015.

Definition 2. In this Act, “Minister” means the Minister for Finance.

PART 2

Agreement on the Transfer and Mutualisation of Contributions to the Single Resolution Fund Interpretation (Part 2) 3. (1) In this Part— “Agreement” means the Agreement on the Transfer and Mutualisation of Contributions to the Single Resolution Fund done at Brussels on 21 May 2014; “BRR Regulations” means the European Union (Bank Recovery and Resolution) Regulations 2015 ( S.I. No. 289 of 2015 ); “SRM Regulation” means Regulation (EU) No. 806/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2014.

Minister may perform functions for purposes of Agreement 4. (1) All such things as are necessary or expedient to be done for the purposes of the State’s performing its functions under the Agreement, and in particular, the functions specified in subsection (2), may be done by the Minister and there is conferred, by virtue of this section, on the Minister all the powers necessary in that behalf.

Defrayal of certain expenses 5. If expenses are incurred by the Minister in doing any thing referred to in section 4 , those expenses shall be paid out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

PART 3

Deposit Guarantee Scheme Interpretation (Part 3) 6. In this Part— “Act of 2009” means the Financial Services (Deposit Guarantee Scheme) Act 2009 .

Amendment of section 1 of Act of 2009 7. Section 1 of the Act of 2009 is amended— (a) by inserting before the definition of “Bank” the following: “ ‘authorised’, in relation to a credit institution, means— (a) in the case of a bank, a bank authorised, or deemed to be authorised, by the European Central Bank on application therefor under section 9 of the Central Bank Act 1971 , (b) in the case of a building society, a building society authorised, or deemed to be authorised, by the European Central Bank on application therefor under section 17 of the Building Societies Act 1989 , or (c) in the case of a credit union, a credit union registered within the meaning of the Credit Union Act 1997 or deemed to be so registered by virtue of section 5(3) of that Act;”, (b) by inserting after the definition of “Bank” the following: “ ‘compensation event’, in relation to a credit institution, means the occurrence of one or more of the following: (a) the Bank has determined that, for the time being, the credit institution appears to be unable, for reasons directly related to its financial circumstances, to repay a deposit or deposits and to have no current prospect of being able to do so; (b) a court in the State has appointed a liquidator or examiner to the credit institution; (c) a judicial authority in the State has made, for reasons directly related to the credit institution’s financial circumstances, any other ruling that has the effect of suspending depositors’ ability to make claims against it; ‘contributory fund’ means the fund established by the Deposit Guarantee Regulations; ‘covered deposits’ means the part of eligible deposits that does not exceed the coverage level laid down in the Deposit Guarantee Regulations;”, (c) in paragraph (b) of the definition of “credit institution” by substituting “section 17” for “section 27”, (d) by substituting for the definition of “Deposit Guarantee Regulations” the following: “ ‘Deposit Guarantee Regulations’ means the regulations made under the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972) to give effect to the Directive of 2014;”, (e) by substituting for the definition of “Directive” the following: “ ‘Directive’ means, as the context requires, Directive 94/19/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 19941 on deposit guarantee schemes or the Directive of 2014; ‘Directive of 2014’ means Directive 2014/49/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 20142 on deposit guarantee schemes;”, and (f) by inserting after the definition of “eligible deposit” the following:

“ ‘legacy fund’ shall be construed in accordance with section 3(2);”.

Amendment of section 3 of Act of 2009 8. Section 3 of the Act of 2009 is amended by designating the section as subsection (1) and inserting after subsection (1) the following: “(2) The Bank shall establish, hold and administer a fund, referred to in this Act as the ‘legacy fund’, consisting of funds transferred in accordance with subsection (3).

Amount to be maintained in deposit protection account 9. The Act of 2009 is amended by substituting for section 4 the following: “4. (1) Subject to subsection (2), a credit institution which is required to contribute to the contributory fund shall not carry on the business of a credit institution unless 0.2 per cent of its covered deposits has been transferred, on its behalf, from the deposit protection account to the legacy fund on a date determined by the Bank under section 3(3), other than where it is a credit institution authorised after the commencement of Part 3 of the Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015 and, in such case, section 5A(4) shall apply.

Order of payments 10. The Act of 2009 is amended by inserting after section 5 the following: “Order of payments 5A. (1) On the occurrence of a compensation event giving rise to payments from the contributory fund, the payments shall be charged in the order set out in subsection (2).

Credit institution wound up or ceased trading 5B. (1) Where any sum distributable under section 3(5)(b) relates to a deposit in the legacy fund by a credit institution which has ceased to carry on business as a credit institution or that has been wound up, then such a sum shall— (a) accrue to the Bank unless, upon ceasing to carry on that business, that credit institution's business as a credit institution was amalgamated with or transferred to another credit institution in which case it shall accrue to that other credit institution, or (b) where the provisions of this subsection also apply to the other credit institution referred to in paragraph (a) (being also a credit institution which has ceased to carry on business or that has been wound up), be traced through that other credit institution and any other credit institutions until it accrues to either the Bank or a credit institution maintaining a deposit in the deposit protection account at time of the accrual.

Charges, etc., on deposit protection account 11. The Act of 2009 is amended by substituting for section 6 the following: “6. (1) Any charge purported to be created, other than by the Bank, on a deposit by a credit institution in the legacy fund is void.

Reimbursement from Central Fund of certain payments by Bank 12. The Act of 2009 is amended by substituting for section 8 the following: “8. (1) Where the Bank uses its own funds in respect of a payment from the contributory fund due to— (a) the available financial means of the contributory fund not being sufficient in respect of the costs to the fund of a particular compensation event in the State, (b) there being no funds standing to the credit of the credit institutions in the legacy fund, and (c) the extraordinary ex-post contributions referred to in the Deposit Guarantee Regulations not being immediately accessible, including for reasons relating to the financial position of the credit institution, or credit institutions, concerned, the amount of the payment shall be repaid to the Bank out of Central Fund or the growing produce thereof within 2 weeks.

Compensation events 13. The Act of 2009 is amended by inserting after section 8D the following: “8E. (1) Any money recovered by the deposit protection account in relation to a compensation event which occurred on or before the coming into operation of the Deposit Guarantee Regulations shall be returned to the credit institutions on a basis proportionate to their contribution to the compensation event.

Repeals 14. Sections 2, 5, 7 and 10(2) and (3) of the Act of 2009 are repealed.

PART 4

Continuation of Insurance Regulations Definitions and application 15. In this Part— “Act of 1972” means the European Communities Act 1972 ; “Act of 1989” means the Insurance Act 1989 ; “Bank” means the Central Bank of Ireland; “European act” means an act or provision of an act, adopted by an institution of the European Union, an institution of the European Communities or any other body competent under the treaties governing the European Union and any act concerning the conditions of accession of a Member State; “insurance undertaking” means a person who carries on or proposes to carry on non-life insurance business or life insurance business requiring authorisation under the relevant regulations or under the Solvency II Regulations; “life insurance business” means the business of providing insurance in respect of the classes of insurance set out in Part A of Annex I to the Life Regulations or Annex II to the Solvency II Directive; “Life Regulations” means the European Communities (Life Assurance) Framework Regulations 1994 ( S.I. No. 360 of 1994 ); “non-life insurance business” means the business of providing insurance in respect of the classes of insurance set out in Part A of Annex I to the Non-Life Regulations or Part A of Annex I to the Solvency II Directive; “Non-Life Regulations” means the European Communities (Non-Life Insurance) Framework Regulations 1994 ( S.I. No. 359 of 1994 ); “reinsurance undertaking” has the same meaning as it has in the Solvency II Regulations; “relevant undertaking” means— (a) an insurance undertaking or a reinsurance undertaking to which the relevant regulations would, but for the repeal of the repealed instruments, apply, but does not include an undertaking to which Title I, II or III of the Solvency II Directive applies, and (b) in so far as it is carrying on activity commenced before 1 January 2016, a special purpose reinsurance vehicle to which the relevant regulations would, but for the repeal of the repealed instruments, apply; “relevant regulations” means the instruments (in force immediately before the repeal of the repealed instruments) under statute made for the purpose of giving effect or further effect to the repealed instruments; “repealed instruments” means the European acts referred to in Article 310 of the Solvency II Directive; “Solvency II Directive” means Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 3 , as amended by Directive 2011/89/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 November 2011 4

, Directive 2012/23/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 September 2012 5 , Council Directive 2013/23/EU of 13 May 2013 6 , Directive 2013/58/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 7 and Directive 2014/51/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 8 ; “Solvency II Regulations” means the regulations made under section 3 of the Act of 1972 to give effect to the Solvency II Directive; “special purpose reinsurance vehicle” means an authorised SPRV, within the meaning of the European Communities (Reinsurance) Regulations 2006 ( S.I. No. 380 of 2006 ), in respect of which the Bank has, pursuant to those regulations, granted an SPRV authorisation prior to 1 January 2016.

Continuation of certain regulations 16. (1) Subject to section 20 and notwithstanding Article 310 of the Solvency II Directive, the following regulations shall, in so far only as they apply to a relevant undertaking, continue in force as if the repealed instruments had not been repealed: (a) the Non-Life Regulations; (b) the Life Regulations; (c) the European Communities (Non-Life Insurance Accounts) Regulations 1995 ( S.I. No. 202 of 1995 ); (d) the European Communities (Reinsurance) Regulations 2006; (e) the European Communities (Insurance and Reinsurance Groups Supplementary Supervision) Regulations 2007 ( S.I. No. 366 of 2007 ).

Portfolio transfers 17. (1) Notwithstanding the regulations made under section 3 of the Act of 1972 to give effect to Article 4 and Article 308b(1) to (4) of the Solvency II Directive, the regulations made under section 3 of the Act of 1972 to give effect to Article 39 of the Solvency II Directive (in this section referred to as the “portfolio transfer regulations”), in so far only as they apply to insurance undertakings (within the meaning of the Solvency II Regulations), shall apply to a relevant undertaking that is an insurance undertaking, subject to the following modifications: (a) where the insurance undertaking that is transferring its business is a relevant undertaking to which the Solvency II Regulations do not apply by virtue of the regulations made under section 3 of the Act of 1972 to give effect to Article 4 of the Solvency II Directive, a reference in the portfolio transfer regulations to an insurance undertaking (within the meaning of the Solvency II Regulations) shall be construed as a reference to an insurance undertaking (within the meaning of this Act); (b) where the insurance undertaking to which the business is being transferred is a relevant undertaking to which the Solvency II Regulations do not apply by virtue of the regulations made under section 3 of the Act of 1972 to give effect to Article 4 of the Solvency II Directive, (i) a reference in the portfolio transfer regulations to an accepting undertaking shall be construed as a reference to an insurance undertaking (within the meaning of this Act), and (ii) the obligation in the portfolio transfer regulations to certify that the accepting undertaking possesses the necessary eligible own funds to cover the Solvency Capital Requirement shall be construed as an obligation to certify that the accepting undertaking possesses the necessary solvency margin in accordance with the Life Regulations or the Non-Life Regulations, as applicable.

Amendments to Part IIIA of Act of 1989 18. (1) Section 43A of the Act of 1989 is amended in subsection (1) by— (a) deleting the definition of “Annex II”, and (b) substituting for the definition of “Directive” the following: “ ‘Directive’ means Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 9 , as amended by Directive 2011/89/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 November 2011 10 , Directive 2012/23/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 September 2012 11 , Council Directive 2013/23/EU of 13 May 2013 12 , Directive 2013/58/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 13 and Directive 2014/51/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 14 ;”.

Deemed authorisation 19. (1) An insurance undertaking authorised under the European Communities (Non-Life Insurance) Regulations 1976 ( S.I. No. 115 of 1976 ) that— (a) is a relevant undertaking on the commencement of this section, and (b) is not deemed authorised under the Solvency II Regulations, shall be deemed to be authorised under the Non-Life Regulations.

Amendments and revocations 20. (1) The enactments specified in column (3) of the Schedule are revoked to the extent specified in column (4) of the Schedule.

Part 4

”.

Savers and transitional provisions 21. (1) A regulatory act taken by the Bank under a provision being amended or revoked by this Act on or before the commencement of such amendment or revocation, continues to have effect according to its terms.

PART 5

Amendment of National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Act 2014 Amendment of section 37 of National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Act 2014 22.

Section 37

of the National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Act 2014 is amended, in the definition of “directed investment”— (a) in paragraph (b), by substituting “a direction,” for “a direction, or”, and (b) by substituting for paragraph (c) the following: “(c) a shareholding or other interest in a credit institution transferred into the Fund under section 46(3), or (d) an investment made by the National Pensions Reserve Fund Commission pursuant to a direction under section 19A, 19AA or 19B of the National Pensions Reserve Fund Act 2000 before the Fund constitution date (within the meaning of Schedule 4);”.

SCHEDULE Revocations of Statutory Instruments

Section 20

S.I. No. 115 of 1976 European Communities (Non-Life Insurance) Regulations 1976 The Whole Regulations 2.

S.I. No. 65 of 1983 European Communities (Co-Insurance) Regulations 1983 The Whole Regulations 3.

S.I. No. 57 of 1984 European Communities (Life Assurance) Regulations 1984 The Whole Regulations 4.

S.I. No. 437 of 1986 European Communities (Life Assurance Accounts, Statements, and Valuations) Regulations 1986 The Whole Regulations 5.

S.I. No. 142 of 1991 European Communities (Non-Life Insurance) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 1991 The Whole Regulations 6.

S.I. No. 197 of 1991 European Communities (Non-Life Insurance) (Legal Expenses) Regulations 1991 The Whole Regulations 7.

S.I. No. 359 of 1994 European Communities (Non-Life Insurance) Framework Regulations 1994 Regulations 12, 28, 30, 32, 33, 34, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55 and 56.

8.

S.I. No. 360 of 1994 European Communities (Life Assurance) Framework Regulations 1994 Regulations 35, 46, 48, 50, 51, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 75, 76, 77, 78 and 79.

9.

S.I. No. 380 of 2006 European Communities (Reinsurance) Regulations 2006 Regulations 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 22, 30 and 31.

1OJ No. L135, 31.05.1994, p.1.

2OJ No. L173, 12.06.2015, p.149.

3OJ No. L 335, 17.12.2009, p. 1.

4OJ No. L 326, 8.12.2011, p. 113.

5OJ No. L 249, 14.9.2012, p. 1.

6OJ No. L 158, 10.6.2013, p. 362.

7OJ No. L 341, 18.12.2013, p. 1.

8OJ No. L 153, 22.5.2014, p. 1.

9OJ No. L 335, 17.12.2009, p. 1.

10OJ No. L 326, 8.12.2011, p. 113.

11OJ No. L 249, 14.9.2012, p. 1.

12OJ No. L 158, 10.6.2013, p. 362.

13OJ No. L 341, 18.12.2013, p. 1.

14OJ No. L 153, 22.5.2014, p. 1.

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