Central Bank says Brexit contingency planning must continue

The Central Bank’s Director General for Financial Conduct, Derville Rowland spoke at the Irish Funds Annual UK Symposium on 15 November 2018, telling asset managers their contingency planning “must continue.”

The Irish regulator has said that fund firms should disregard the draft Brexit withdrawal deal and continue to prepare for a cliff-edge scenario. Ms Rowland says that while the proposed deal “would obviously be a superior outcome to no deal,” it is “not clear” how the political issues surrounding the deal will be resolved.

Read: The speech

Central Bank discussion paper on outsourcing

The Central Bank released Discussion Paper 8 on the topic of Outsourcing (“DP 8”) on 19 November 2018. In light of the evolving financial services landscape, growing international focus on outsourcing and increasing concerns in relation to outsourcing practices, the Central Bank embarked upon a review of outsourcing across the Irish financial sector. The purpose of DP 8 is to set out the Central Bank’s findings and observations from this review and obtain feedback from interested parties on key risks and evolving trends associated with outsourcing or any aspect of outsourcing.

Interested parties are requested to provide responses to the questions posed in DP 8 along with any general observations on this topic by the closing date of 18 January 2019.

Read: The Discussion Paper

Central Bank publishes corporate governance requirements

The Central Bank has published its Corporate Governance Requirements for Investment Firms and Market Operators 2018 (the “CG Requirements”). The publication of the final CG Requirements follows the Central Bank’s publication of CP120: Second Consultation Paper on the Corporate Governance Requirements for Investment Firms and Market Operators (CP120) in May 2018.

The CG Requirements provide clarity to industry and promote high standards of corporate governance within investment firms.

Read: The CG Requirements

Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act 2018

The Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Act 2018 (the “AML Act 2018”) was signed into law on 14 November 2018 by the President of Ireland and the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive (2015/849) is now fully transposed into national law.

The core provisions of the AML Act 2018 relate to customer due diligence (verifying a customer's identity and assessing risk). They oblige designated persons to carry out a business-wide risk assessment, as well as an individual assessment in relation to each business relationship. The AML Act 2018 also sets out the increased functions and powers of the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Garda Síochána (the Irish police force).

Read: The AML Act 2018