Central Bank of Ireland finds 325 non-compliant retail intermediary firms, nearly 12.5% of registered businesses
The CBI has targeted 325 non-compliant retail intermediary firms to reporting obligations in a massive investigation over a 14-week period in 23 counties. Of these firms, 171 companies (just over 50%) are now meeting reporting standards, while 134 were voluntarily struck off and 20 entities have pending regulatory enforcement decisions. Taking in account that the […]
The CBI has targeted 325 non-compliant retail intermediary firms to reporting obligations in a massive investigation over a 14-week period in 23 counties. Of these firms, 171 companies (just over 50%) are now meeting reporting standards, while 134 were voluntarily struck off and 20 entities have pending regulatory enforcement decisions.
Taking in account that the Central Bank is responsible for supervising over 2,600 retail intermediaries of various activities (insurance, re-insurance, investment and mortgage intermediary business), it means that authorities have found nearly 12.5% of them failing to comply to key reporting requirements. FinanceFeeds is waiting for an update to the list of unauthorized firms to get into detail about potential Forex related businesses.
The CBI is proving to be more active in its enforcement department, and although resource intensive, overall compliance in the retail intermediary sector increased to 92%.
Ireland is a region in which the FX industry is overseen by the Central Bank, therefore this regulatory finding is most certainly poignant. In a release issued by the Central Bank of Ireland today, it was stated:
“The Central Bank has a strong consumer protection framework in place to ensure that customers of retail intermediaries are protected. Although many of these firms are small and are categorized as low impact under the Central Bank’s risk assessment framework, we have a clear and tailored strategy in place for these firms which includes the analysis of annual online returns and regular thematic inspections of the sector.”
“The Central Bank’s Consumer Protection Outlook Report 2016 highlighted our continued focus on firms that are not meeting regulatory obligations and, due to the successful outcome from this targeted engagement, more on-site visits have already commenced to deal with the remaining non-compliant firms.”
An annual online return to the Central Bank has been required to all retail intermediaries since 2011, in order to enable authorities to properly supervise them, to identify key risk indicators such as financial health.
