Team size: 46

What impact did Brexit have on the financial Industry in Ireland?

Our legal team was instrumental in assisting the Central Bank in managing the risks from Brexit. To prepare for the potential impact of Brexit and ensure a smooth transition, extensive work was done by the Central Bank in conjunction with financial services industry, the Department of Finance, and British and European authorities. The unprecedented and complex nature of Brexit required significant support from the legal division including but not limited to developing innovative solutions such as legislative fixes to mitigate risks. It is still early days in assessing what overall impact Brexit will have on the financial industry. One immediate impact has been an increased number of UK authorised financial services firms becoming authorised in Ireland to be in a position to continue to provide financial services across the EU on a cross-border basis. From a regulatory perspective, it remains unclear how the EU-UK regulation of financial services will develop. The UK is now outside of the European Union system but still a very important player in global financial markets, thus Brexit is likely to have a significant effect on financial service regulation in Europe including in terms of how policy is developed.

What are the most significant cases and/or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Our legal team advises the Central Bank on all legal issues, which can range from general supervisory and central banking issues to more operational matters, for example on contracts. I am also a member of the Eurosystem Legal Committee which advises the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) on legal issues.

Our legal team has a key role in the development of legislation in relation to the Central Bank’s mandate. We are currently working with the Department of Finance on a proposed Central Bank (Individual Accountability Framework) Bill. This provides for the introduction of a Senior Executive Accountability Regime, which places obligations on firms and senior individuals within them to set out clearly where responsibility and decision-making lies and also provides for conduct standards.

Our legal team also advised and supported the Central Bank in its response to issues emerging from the pandemic including the ECB’s pandemic emergency purchase programme and consumer protection initiatives including the business interruption insurance supervisory framework. The Regulatory Decisions Unit which sits in our Legal Division is currently supporting administrative sanctions procedure inquiries into persons formerly concerned in the management of Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS) and PTSB. The hearings of ASP inquiries have been held remotely since the onset of the pandemic.