Credit Servicing In Ireland - Update

Following on from the commencement of the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Act 2015 in July last year (the "Act")(see our previous briefing here), the Central Bank of Ireland (the "CBI") has now published details of its Authorisation Requirements and Standards for Credit Servicing Firms. Both existing credit servicing firms who applied for transitional authorisation under the Act and new firms intending to provide such services will be required to demonstrate to the CBI that they are in a position to meet each of the authorisation requirements and standards.

The CBI has also published a Q&A Document for stakeholders which clarifies that per the Consumer Protection Code 2012 (the "CPC") regulated lenders must notify the CBI immediately and provide affected consumers with at least 2 months' notice before transferring all or part of its loan book covered by the CPC to another person, including where the transferee is an unregulated entity.