Enforcement Action: Prohibition Notice issued to Mr Martin Ryan under the Fitness and Probity Regime

Today the Central Bank has published a Prohibition Notice issued to Mr Martin Ryan, the former Chief and Signing Actuary at RSA Insurance Ireland DAC (RSAII) and former Actuarial Manager at Euro Insurances DAC (EID) trading as LeasePlan Insurances. The Prohibition Notice became effective on 30 August 2022, prohibiting Mr Ryan from carrying out any controlled functions, including pre-approval controlled functions, in any regulated financial service provider for a period of 5 years.

The Prohibition Notice issued after Mr Ryan signed a Statement of Undisputed Facts, in which he accepted that he had facilitated an undocumented practice during his time at RSAII, which resulted in a significant shortfall in the firm’s reserves in 2013. Further, Mr Ryan also accepted that during a fitness and probity assessment at EID in 2016, he failed to provide material information and gave false and / or misleading information.

Seána Cunningham, Director of Enforcement and Anti-Money Laundering said:

"Regulated firms, and their management, have first line responsibility under the Fitness and Probity Regime, acting as a gatekeeper to the industry by ensuring people subject to the regime are fit and proper. Information provided by persons seeking to perform controlled functions during assessments of their fitness and probity must be complete and accurate.

Persons performing controlled functions must act with honesty and integrity, in accordance with the applicable standards of fitness and probity. Where an individual is suspected to have failed to meet these standards, the Central Bank may use its statutory powers to investigate. If warranted, the Central Bank will prohibit an individual from performing controlled functions in order to uphold public trust and confidence in the financial system and protect users of financial services.” 

Additional Information

1. The Fitness and Probity Regime was introduced by the Central Bank under the Central Bank Reform Act 2010 to ensure that regulated firms and individuals who work in these firms are committed to high standards of competence, integrity and honesty and are held to account when they fall below these standards. View further detail on the Fitness and Probity Regime, including the Fitness and Probity Standards.
2. Assessments of an individual’s fitness and probity to perform a controlled functions are conducted by the relevant Regulated Financial Services Provider (RFSP), with the Central Bank acting as a gatekeeper to certain senior roles called “pre-approval controlled functions” or “PCFs”, as firms may not appoint individuals to these roles without the Central Bank’s prior approval in writing.
3. The Central Bank may investigate individuals in controlled functions, including pre-approval controlled functions, if we suspect that they do not have the required fitness and / or probity to perform the role, and we may prohibit them following such investigation, if appropriate.