Central Bank to Amend the Requirements for Loan Origination QIAIFs
The Central Bank has published a notice of intention to amend the requirements for loan origination Qualifying Investor AIF set out in the AIF Rulebook. The amendment currently proposed would permit lending within a broader credit focused strategy. The change outlined therein will come into effect from 7 March 2018 when the Central Bank will publish a revised AIF Rulebook.
Read the notice of intention for a rule change to the AIF Rulebook.
GDPR and the Data Protection Bill 2018
The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) will replace the 1995 Data Protection Directive on 25 May 2018, and EU member states’ national implementation laws related thereto. GDPR represents a paradigm shift in the approach to EU privacy law and will pose significant compliance and operational challenges for asset managers that have any EU and/or UK operations. An Irish Funds GDPR Working Group have published a bulletin outlining the scope and key impacts of the GDPR.
The Irish Government has published the Data Protection Bill 2018 (the “Bill”) to give effect to GDPR and to provide, in the limited areas permitted, for national derogations. The Bill repeals the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 (the Acts), except for those provisions relating to the processing of personal data for the purposes of national security, defence and the international relations of the State.
Read the General Data Protection Regulation.
Read the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council.
Read the Data Protection Bill 2018.
Central Bank Communication to Firms Seeking Authorisation in 2018
The Central Bank has issued a communication to firms seeking authorisation in 2018. In light of the UK’s decision to withdraw from the European Union and an uptake in firms therefore engaging with the Central Bank, the Bank has offered an encouragement to proceed with any application process in good time and has committed significant further resources to deal with the additional enquiries.
The Central Bank has updated its FAQs to reflect the above.
Read the communication in full.
Enhancements to the Regulated Disclosures Submission Process
The Regulated Disclosures teams within the Central Bank are in the process of upgrading their document management and workflow system. The Bank has provided that user testing of the new system is underway, deployment of Excel templates required with each submission is planned for early April and website instructions related to the Excel templates are planned for 10 to 14 days prior to adoption. It is anticipated that the new system will go fully live in mid Q2 2018.
In addition, an update on the new submission process will be provided at the Prospectus Regulations Stakeholder Meeting on 5 March 2017.
Read the Enhancements to the Regulated Disclosures Submission Process - Update.
