Types of FAQ:
Transaction Reporting FAQ’s
Who should I contact if I have a query in relation to transaction reporting?
Credit institutions should refer to our 
Transaction Reporting User Guide in the first instance. If this guide does not answer your query, queries may be sent by e-mail to transactionreporting@financialregulator.ie.
Are insurance undertakings, assurance undertakings and reinsurance undertakings exempt from S.I. No. 60 of 2007 (as amended)?
Regulation 5(1) states these Regulations do not apply to any of the following:
- insurance undertakings as defined in Article 1 of the Directive 73/239/EEC, assurance undertakings as defined in Article 1 of Directive 2002/83/EC, or
- reinsurance undertakings as defined in Directive 2005/68/EC
Will a credit institution be given a password to access the online reporting system or will an individual within a credit institution be given a password instead?
Access to the Financial Regulator’s online reporting system is always given to specific individuals within a credit institution, never to the credit institution as a whole. Credit institutions will be responsible for managing their own users and access levels. The Financial Regulator will set up an initial firm administrator who can then set up as many additional users as they see fit.
How do credit institutions go about getting a user ID and password to access the Financial Regulator’s online reporting system?
Credit institutions will need to inform the Financial Regulator that they intend to report transactions. Relevant contact details for the Financial Regulator are provided in the Contact Us section of the Transaction Reporting section of the website. Credit Institutions will then be issued with an institution code, login name and default password before they are due to start transaction reporting.
Is the online reporting system secure?
The online reporting system uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), which is a protocol that uses a cryptographic system to encrypt data for secure transmission.
Trading Time – How should credit institutions report Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) +/- hours?
For the trading time field, credit institutions should input the time of the trade followed by +00. The Financial Regulator will populate Summer Time automatically.
Dormant Accounts FAQ’s
What type of account can be called a dormant account?
A dormant account can be an account on which there has been no transaction by the account holder for 15 years or more (the year begins September 30) in: a deposit, share or current account in a bank or building society, a deposit receipt or fixed deposit; or, an account, saving certificate, savings bond or instalment saving scheme with An Post.
What responsibilities are placed on institutions about dormant accounts?
If the amount held is more than €100 then the institution must first contact the account holder explaining their rights and the institution's obligations under the Dormant Account Act. This does not apply if there is a standing instruction on the account not to issue any correspondence, or if the institution had previously been unable to contact the account holder. Institutions are obliged to publish a notice in two national newspapers in October each year about the transfer of funds under the Act. These notices should also be displayed in public branches of the credit institutions. Details of accounts designated as dormant are kept at the institution so they can pay out any funds claimed back at a later time.
What should you do if you think you have a dormant account?
Contact the institution (the branch, if possible) where you have the dormant account. If the institution with which you had the account no longer exists, contact the Irish Bankers' Federation. Where an account has been designated as being a dormant account (where on the 30 September a transaction has not been passed by the account holder in the previous 15 years) - the account holder has until the 31 March of the following year to reactivate the account by contacting their institution and carrying out a transaction on the account. After the 31 March, the funds are transferred to the Dormant Accounts Fund.
What happens to the funds held in dormant accounts?
The money held in designated dormant accounts is transferred to a Fund administered by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA). The Dormant Accounts Fund Disbursements Board will distribute the funds to
- programmes designed to assist the personal, educational and social development of people who are economically, educationally or socially disadvantaged;
- to people with a disability; and
- to projects that are designed to assist primary school students with learning disabilities.
The transfer to the fund does not affect the rights of the original account holder and they can reclaim their funds at any time by contacting the institution where the account is held.
Capital Requirements Directive Implementation
Where would you find Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) Implementation Information?
Please see the Supervisory Disclosure, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section.
COREP and FINREP Implementation
Where would you find COREP and FINREP Implementation Q & A?
These are available on the Supervisory Disclosures FAQ's.
Inspection FAQ's
What is a Themed (consumer) Inspection?
Themed inspections are one of the tools which we use to monitor compliance with the Consumer Protection Code. A themed inspection focuses on a specific topic or product rather than on a specific institution. These inspections are carried out on a number of regulated entities for which the topic would be applicable or those that represent a significant portion of the market share of the relevant product. Themes are identified from a number of sources including but not restricted to consumer complaints and queries, issues arising from previous inspections and market intelligence.
Themed inspections can be conducted by survey or by a combination of a survey and on-site inspections. In certain cases, particular information relevant to the theme is requested and examined and following examination of this material, firms may be selected for on-site inspection. Firms that are selected for on-site inspection will be requested to have certain information available for examination at the outset of the inspection.
Feedback from themed inspections is provided to the relevant sector(s) of the Industry formally and the findings from these themes are brought into the public domain through publication on our website. Our overall aim is to improve the level of compliance of firms with the Code and to ensure that financial service providers are acting at all times in the best interests of consumers. Where a specific compliance issue arises with an individual firm, this is addressed directly with the firm and where appropriate, regulatory action may be taken.
While we select particular themes as part of our monitoring of compliance with the Code, we expect firms to proactively monitor consumer protection issues in their own firms and to take any appropriate corrective action that may be required.
This themed approach does not preclude us from focusing resources on a particular financial service provider if required.