European Communities (Licensing and Supervision of Credit Institutions) Regulations, 1992

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 395/1992

S.I. No. 395 of 1992.
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (LICENSING AND SUPERVISION OF CREDIT INSTITUTIONS) REGULATIONS, 1992.
Arrangement of Regulations
Regulation
1. Citation and commencement.
2. Interpretation.
3. Extent of application.
4. Control of credit institutions and solvency ratio.
5. Determination of qualifying holding.
6. Minimum capital requirement.
7. Requirement to notify identity of certain shareholders.
8. Consultation with competent authorities in other Member States.
9. Notification to Commission by Central Bank of third country subsidiaries.
10. Suspension of third country authorisations or approvals.
11. Restriction of application of certain authorisation requirements.
12. Prohibition of endowment capital requirements for Member States' branches.
13. Maintenance of own funds by credit institutions.
14. Acquisitions of shareholdings or other interests in credit institutions.
15. Holdings by credit institutions in other bodies corporate.
16. Management of credit institutions.
17. Exercise of certain functions by the Bank.
18. Investigations.
19. Non-disclosure of information.
20. Mutual recognition of provision of banking services.
21. Provisions relating to the establishment of a branch in another Member State.
22. Appeal to Court against refusal of Bank to transmit certain information under Regulation 21.
23. Provisions relating to the establishment in the State of a branch from another Member State.
24. Change in information provided under Regulation 21.
25. Existing branches.
26. Provision of services into another Member State.
27. Provisions as to non-compliance in the State.
28. Non-compliance in another Member State.
29. Direction by Bank to cease business.
30. Report to Commission.
31. Notification by credit institutions.
32. Notification by financial institutions.
33. Offences.
34. Provision of false information, etc.
35. Prosecution by Bank.
36. Offences by bodies corporate.
37. Continuation of contravention of Regulations.
38. Construction of licence holder in enactments.
39. Amendment of Central Bank Act, 1971.
SCHEDULE AND TITLE
S.I. No. 395 of 1992.
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (LICENSING AND SUPERVISION OF CREDIT INSTITUTIONS) REGULATIONS, 1992.
I, BERTIE AHERN, Minister for Finance, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving effect to Council Directive No. 89/646/EEC(a) of 15 December 1989, hereby make the following Regulations:
(a) O.J. No. L386 of 30 December 1989, page 1.
	1 Citation and commencement.	1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Licensing and Supervision of Credit Institutions) Regulations, 1992.
(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1993.
	2 Interpretation.	2. (1) In these Regulations, except where the context otherwise requires—
"authorisation", in relation to a credit institution, means an authorisation by the Bank to carry on the business of a credit institution in accordance with the provisions of any of the supervisory enactments, and references to authorised, in relation to such an institution, shall be construed accordingly;
"the Bank" means the Central Bank of Ireland;
"branch" includes one or more places of business in the same Member State;
"common control" in relation to a credit institution, has the same meaning as it has in section 21 (12) (inserted by section 38 of the Central Bank Act, 1989 ) of the Central Bank Act, 1971 , in relation to a licence holder;
"the Commission" means the Commission of the European Communities;
"Community" means the European Economic Community;
"competent authority"—
( a ) in relation to the State, means the Bank, and
( b ) in relation to any other Member State, means a body or bodies charged by law in the Member State with the supervision of credit institutions or, where the context requires, the supervision of other institutions providing one or more of the services set out in the Schedule;
"control" shall be construed in accordance with Regulation 4;
"Court" means the High Court;
"credit institution" means an undertaking, other than a credit union or friendly society, whose business it is to receive deposits or other repayable funds from the public and to grant credit on its own account;
"credit union" means a society which is registered as a credit union under the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts, 1893 to 1978, by virtue of the Credit Union Act, 1966 ;
"the Directive" means Council Directive No. 89/646/EEC of 15 December 1989(a);
"ECU" means the European Currency Unit;
"fellow subsidiary" has the meaning it has in Regulation 8;
"financial institution" means any undertaking whose principal business is the acquisition of shareholdings or interests in other bodies corporate or the provision of financial services set out at reference numbers 2 to 12 of the Schedule, but does not include a credit institution or an undertaking engaged in life or non-life insurance;
"friendly society" means a society registered under the Friendly Societies Acts, 1896 to 1977;
"functions" includes powers and duties;
"holder", in relation to a licence, means the person to whom a licence is granted;
(a) O.J. No. L386 of 30 December 1989, page 1.
"home Member State", in relation to an undertaking incorporated in or formed under the law of a Member State, means that Member State;
"initial capital" means paid-up share capital and reserves to which subparagraphs (1) and (2), respectively, of paragraph 1 of Article 2 of Council Directive No. 89/299/EEC of 17 April 1989(b) relates;
"licence" means a licence for the time being in force granted under section 9 (as amended by the Central Bank Act, 1989 (No. 16 of 1989)) of the Central Bank Act, 1971 (No. 24 of 1971);
"Member State" means a Member State of the Community;
"own funds" means own funds as defined from time to time by the Bank in its licensing and supervisory standards;
"parent undertaking" has the meaning assigned to it by the European Communities (Companies: Group Accounts) Regulations, 1992 ( S.I. No. 201 of 1992 );
"qualifying holding" means—
( a ) a holding by a person, either on his own or in concert with another person, of 10 per cent. or more of the shares or of the voting rights attaching to shares in an undertaking, or
( b ) a shareholding or interest held by a person in an undertaking which either confers a right to appoint or remove one or more members of the board of directors or of the committee of management of the undertaking, however described, or otherwise allows that person to exercise a significant influence over the direction or management of the undertaking;
"solvency ratio" shall be construed in accordance with Regulation 4 of these Regulations;
(b) O.J. No. L124 of 5 May 1989, page 16.
"subsidiary undertaking" shall be construed in accordance with Regulation 4 of the European Communities (Companies: Group Accounts) Regulations, 1992, and, in relation to an undertaking incorporated in or formed under the law of another Member State, means any undertaking which is a subsidiary undertaking within the meaning of any rule or law in force in that State for the purposes of giving effect to Council Directive No. 83/349/EEC of 13 June 1983(c);
"supervisory enactments" means the Central Bank Acts, 1942 to 1989, the Building Societies Act, 1989 (No. 17 of 1989), the Trustee Savings Banks Act, 1989 (No. 21 of 1989), the ACC Bank Act, 1992 (No. 6 of 1992), the ICC Bank Act, 1992 (No. 21 of 1992), or any other enactment relating to supervision by the Bank and for the time being in force;
"undertaking" has the same meaning as it has in Regulation 3 of the European Communities (Companies: Group Accounts) Regulations, 1992 ( S.I. No. 201 of 1992 ).
(2) A word or expression that is used in these Regulations and is also used in the Directive has, unless the contrary intention appears, the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in the Directive.
(3) ( a ) A reference in these Regulations to a Regulation or a Schedule is to a Regulation of or Schedule to these Regulations unless it is indicated that a reference to some other enactment is intended.
( b ) A reference in these Regulations to a paragraph or subparagraph is to a paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended.
	3 Extent of application.	3. (1) These Regulations apply to all credit institutions other than those to which paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 2 of the Directive relates.
(2) These Regulations shall not apply to a branch of a credit institution authorised in a State that is not a Member State.
(c) O.J. No. L193 of 18 July 1983, page 1.
	4 Control of credit institutions and solvency ratio.	4. For the purposes of these Regulations—
"control" includes any power, whether arising from a contract or agreement or otherwise, whereby one party can direct the affairs of another and a parent undertaking shall be deemed to control its subsidiaries;
"solvency ratio", in relation to credit institutions, means the solvency coefficient, calculated in accordance with Council Directive No. 89/647/EEC of 18 December 1989(d), applied from time to time by the Bank to such institutions in its licensing and supervisory standards.
(d) O.J. No. L386 of 30 December 1989, page 14.
	5 Determination of qualifying holding.	5. (1) In determining whether a person holds a qualifying holding in a credit institution, there shall be treated as held by that person any shares or rights in the credit institution which are held—
( a ) by another person on that person's behalf,
( b ) by an undertaking which is under the effective control of that person...