Revocations
About Revocations
The legislation under which the Central Bank is designated as the competent authority with responsibility for the supervision of various financial industry sectors permits the Central Bank to compulsorily revoke a regulated financial service provider’s authorisation, where certain grounds set out within the applicable legislation are met.
Previously the Central Bank published these notices of revocation under certain sectoral legislation in national and regional media, but notices will now also be published on its website.
Revocation of a firm’s authorisation – other than where a firm applies to the Central Bank for revocation on a voluntary basis – is amongst the most serious actions that the Central Bank can take in the context of its toolkit of supervisory and enforcement powers.
Compulsory revocation is pursued only where other interventions have not achieved compliance and it results in the compulsory discontinuation of a firm’s business.
Details of Revocations are outlined below.
Revocation Notices
Involuntary Withdrawal of Registration of Insurance Intermediary: Priosma Europe Limited [September 2021]
Notice is hereby given that the Central Bank of Ireland (the Central Bank) has, under Regulation 13(1) and 13(2)(d) of the European Union (Insurance Distribution) Regulations, 2018 (the IDR), withdrawn, on an involuntary basis, the registration of Priosma Europe Limited (the Firm) as an insurance intermediary. The Firm’s registration was withdrawn under Regulation 13(1) of the IDR due to its failure to comply with Regulation 21(1) of the IDR.
Accordingly, the Firm is no longer registered by the Central Bank as an insurance intermediary and is therefore not entitled to conduct insurance distribution activities in the State.
- Regulation 13(1) of the IDR provides that:
“The [Central] Bank may withdraw the registration of, and remove from the Register, an insurance, reinsurance or ancillary insurance intermediary that ceases to fulfil the requirements set out in Regulations 20 and 21.”
- Regulation 21 of the IDR provides that:
“(1) Insurance, reinsurance and ancillary insurance intermediaries shall hold ring-fenced professional indemnity insurance covering the whole territory of the Member States or some other comparable guarantee against liability arising from professional negligence, for not less than €1,300,380 applying to each claim and in aggregate €1,924,560 per year for all claims, unless such insurance or comparable guarantee is already provided by an insurance undertaking, reinsurance undertaking or other undertaking on whose behalf the insurance or reinsurance intermediary is acting or for which the insurance or reinsurance intermediary is empowered to act or such undertaking has taken on full responsibility for the intermediary’s actions.
(2) Every insurance, reinsurance or ancillary insurance intermediary shall take all necessary steps to protect customers against the inability of the intermediary, in an appropriate case, to –
(a) transfer to the relevant insurance or reinsurance undertaking premiums paid by those customers,
(b) transfer the amounts of claims payable to those customers, and
(c) return premiums payable to those customers.
(3) Without limitation of paragraph (2), the following provisions apply for the purpose of providing protection to customers of an insurance, reinsurance or ancillary insurance intermediary:
(a) premiums paid by a customer to the intermediary are taken to have been paid to the relevant insurance or reinsurance undertaking;
(b) money paid by an insurance or reinsurance undertaking to the intermediary for a customer are taken not to have been paid to the customer until the customer actually receives it;
(c) the intermediary shall ensure that premiums and other monies paid to the intermediary by customers or by an insurance or reinsurance undertaking are held in, and only transferred by means of, strictly segregated client premium accounts and that the money held in those accounts cannot be used to reimburse other creditors should the intermediary become insolvent.
(4) Insurance and reinsurance undertakings shall approve, implement and regularly review their internal policies and appropriate internal procedures to ensure compliance with the requirements in Regulation 20 and this Regulation.
(5) Insurance and reinsurance undertakings shall identify a function to ensure the proper implementation of the endorsed policies and procedures.
(6) Insurance and reinsurance undertakings shall establish, maintain and keep up-to-date records of all the relevant documentation regarding the application of Regulation 20 and this Regulation.
(7) Insurance and reinsurance undertakings shall, upon request, make available the name of the person responsible for the function referred to in paragraph (5) to the Bank.
(8) In this Regulation, "ring-fenced" means the cover or portion thereof, provided by the professional indemnity insurance or comparable guarantee, that is strictly reserved in respect of liability arising from professional negligence in connection with insurance or reinsurance distribution activities, including those activities previously described as insurance or reinsurance mediation activities, and no other activities, where an aggregate limit applies to the cover.”
- Regulation 13(2)(d) of the IDR provides that:
“the [Central] Bank may withdraw the registration of, and remove from the Register, an insurance, reinsurance or ancillary insurance intermediary on any of the following grounds …
(d) since the intermediary was registered, the circumstances under which the registration took place have changed to the extent that an application for registration would be refused had it been made in the changed circumstances”
- The legislation governing the different types of financial service providers regulated by the Central Bank permits it, in certain circumstances, to revoke a firm’s authorisation/ registration on an involuntary basis. Some non-exhaustive examples of when firms’ authorisation may be revoked include; where firms fail to hold adequate professional indemnity insurance, fail to trade for a certain period of time, or fail to engage with the Central Bank.
- The Central Bank’s power to revoke a firm’s authorisation/withdraw a firm’s registration is one of the most serious actions that the Central Bank can take against a firm and results in the firm being unable to conduct regulated business.
- Since 2011, the Central Bank has revoked, on an involuntary basis, 41 firm authorisations.
- The Central Bank commenced publishing these outcomes on the Central Bank’s website in 2019.
Revocation of Authorisation of a Bureau de Change Firm: Euroxchanger Currency Services (Ire) Limited [19 May 2021]
Notice is hereby given that the Central Bank of Ireland has, under Sections 36A (1)(b) and 36A(1)(i) of the Central Bank Act 1997, revoked, on an involuntary basis, the authorisation of Euroxchanger Currency Services (Ire) Limited (the “Firm”) as a Bureau de Change firm under Part V of the Central Bank Act 1997.
Accordingly, the Firm is no longer entitled to conduct bureau de change services activities in the State and is hereby removed from the Bureau de Change Register.
Cancellation of Registration of Insurance Intermediary: Bryan Dobson [25 October 2019]
Notice is hereby given that the Central Bank of Ireland has, under Regulation 11(1) of the EC (Insurance Mediation) Regulations 2005 (S.I. No. 13 of 2005), and by reference to Regulation 61 of the European Union (Insurance Distribution) Regulations 2018 (S.I. No. 229 of 2018) cancelled the registration of Bryan Dobson (the "Firm") as an insurance intermediary.
Accordingly, the Firm is no longer entitled to conduct insurance distribution activities in the State and has been removed from the Insurance Distribution Register.
Cancellation of Registration of Insurance Intermediary: Patrick Strapp [29 March 2019]
Notice is hereby given that the Central Bank of Ireland has, under Regulation 11(1) and 11(2) (d) of the EC (Insurance Mediation) Regulations 2005 (S.I. No. 13 of 2005), and by reference to Regulation 61 of the European Union (Insurance Distribution) Regulations 2018 (S.I. No. 229 of 2018) cancelled the registration of Patrick Strapp (the "Firm") as an insurance intermediary.
Accordingly, the Firm is no longer entitled to conduct insurance distribution activities in the State and is hereby removed from the Insurance Distribution Register.
Revocation of Authorisation of Investment Business Firm: Nancy Meers t/a JJ Meers [31 July 2019]
Notice is hereby given that the Central Bank of Ireland has, under Section 16 (2) (d) of the Investment Intermediaries Act 1995, revoked the authorisation of Nancy Meers, t/a JJ Meers (the "Firm), as an investment business firm.
Accordingly, the Firm is no longer entitled to conduct investment business activities in the State and is hereby removed from the Investment Intermediaries Register.
Cancellation of Registration of Insurance Intermediary: Nancy Meers t/a JJ Meers [31 July 2019]
Notice is hereby given that the Central Bank of Ireland has, under Regulation 11(1) and 11(2) (d) of the EC (Insurance Mediation) Regulations 2005 (S.I. No. 13 of 2005), and by reference to Regulation 61 of the European Union (Insurance Distribution) Regulations 2018 (S.I. No. 229 of 2018) cancelled the registration of Nancy Meers, t/a JJ Meers (the "Firm"), as an insurance intermediary.
Accordingly, the Firm is no longer entitled to conduct insurance distribution activities in the State and is hereby removed from the Insurance Distribution Register.