Central Bank Publishes Intermediary Times June 2022 Issue
June 2022The 'Intermediary Times', the Central Bank’s newsletter published twice a year, includes regulatory issues that retail intermediary firms need to be aware of in improving their standards of compliance.
In this latest edition the Central Bank of Ireland covers many items including:
- Amendments to the list of Pre-Approval Controlled Functions; (also see RegSol’s article here)
- A new Legal Entity Identifier requirement for some types of retail intermediaries; (see RegSol’s article here)
- New features of the Central Bank Portal;
- Updates relating to the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulations (SFDR);
- An overview of the Consumer Protection Outlook Report 2022; (see RegSol’s article here)
- Implications for Insurance Intermediaries of the new insurance regulations relating to Differential Pricing; (see RegSol’s article here)
- Learnings relating to Authorisations and the Fitness and Probity (F&P) Assessment; and
- Recent Central Bank publications relevant for retail intermediaries:
o
Use of Exempt Ancillary
Insurance Intermediaries in the Insurance Sector; and
o
Structured Retail Products. (see
RegSol’s article here)
Two areas highlighted by the Central Bank in the newsletter which will be of interest to our readers are as follows:
1. Amendments to the list of Pre-Approval Controlled Functions (PCFs) Firms are reminded for persons performing PCF2B, PCF16 and/or PCF52 before 5th April 2022, an ‘In Situ’ process is available to notify the Central Bank via the PCF In-Situ Return - the Online Reporting System (ONR) whereby an Individual Questionnaire (IQ) is not required - by 30th June 2022 .
Persons proposed for these roles after 5th April 2022 must submit PCF applications via the normal process (i.e. submission of an IQ). Those individuals are now subject to the F&P Standards.
2. Authorisation of Retail Intermediaries and the Fitness and Probity (F & P) Assessment The Central Bank notes that when it is processing authorisation applications for retail intermediaries some PCFs proposed by applicant firms are unable to demonstrate how they meet the F&P Standards. In this regard, the Central Bank highlights the two most common issues identified by it, which are:
- Applicants not meeting the requirements of Minimum Competency Code 2017 (MCC 2017) (where applicable);
- Proposed PCFs that do meet the requirements of MCC 2017, but do not meet other aspects of the F&P Standards.
The Central Bank therefore reminds retail intermediary applicants that they are expected to review and familiarise themselves with the F&P Standards, the MCC 2017 and ensure they fully understand how it applies to their firm and ensure that they can demonstrate compliance with it when submitting an application.
For any assistance in applying to the Central Bank for an authorisation, please feel free to contact us at
info@regsol.ie To read the newsletter in full, please see the link below:
Intermediary Times June 2022 (centralbank.ie)