IRELAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Grainne Callanan, April McClements and Aisling Kavanagh, Matheson LLP
Freedom of Establishment or Freedom of Services Basis (Re)insurance undertakings authorised in an EU/EEA member state may carry out business in Ireland on a Freedom of Establishment basis through a local branch or operate in Ireland on a Freedom of Services basis, provided that their home state regulators notify the CBI. Passporting undertakings must comply with A reinsurance provider can establish a special-pur- pose reinsurance vehicle, thus providing a quicker, simpler route to authorisation and reducing supervi- sion compared with fully regulated reinsurers. Establishing Third-Country Insurance Branches in Ireland the Irish “general good” requirements. Special Purpose Reinsurance Vehicles The 2015 Regulations facilitate a non-EEA insur- er establishing a branch in Ireland (“third-country branch”), subject to the fulfilment of specific regula- tory requirements. The 2015 Regulations impose stan- dalone capital requirements on third-country branches and require the third-country branches to: • hold assets in Ireland of at least 50% of the abso- lute floor prescribed in the 2015 Regulations in respect of the minimum capital requirement (EUR3.7 million); and • deposit 25% of that amount with the Irish High Court as security. The local substance requirements for a third-country branch will depend on the nature, scale and complexi- ty of its operations. The CBI will expect an appropriate number of senior management in Ireland to demon- strate a sufficient level of local oversight and control. At a minimum, a branch manager and a branch man- agement committee in Ireland will be required, with day-to-day responsibility for the branch’s corporate governance. Significantly, a third-country branch does not have the right to passport into other EU/EEA jurisdictions and is only permitted to write business in the jurisdiction in which it is established. Therefore, a third-country branch is not suitable for third-country insurers seek- ing to write business across the EU/EEA. Post-Brexit,
• arrange a preliminary meeting with the CBI to outline the proposals, at which the CBI will provide feedback in relation to the proposal and identify any areas of concern that should be addressed before the application is submitted; • prepare and submit the completed Checklist and Business Plan; • dialogue with the CBI; • the CBI’s authorisation committee considers the application; • once the CBI is satisfied with the application, it will issue an “authorisation in principle” – meaning it is inclined to grant its approval as soon as certain conditions have been satisfied; and • once all conditions are satisfied, the CBI will issue the final authorisation and the (re)insurer can com- mence writing business in Ireland. The application process is iterative, involving consul- tation with the CBI after a formal submission. During the review process, the CBI will typically request addi- tional information and documentation, and it may have comments on certain features of the proposal. The CBI may request additional meetings with the appli- cant to discuss the proposal in greater detail. The CBI will issue a formal authorisation once it is sat- isfied that the capital requirements and pre-licensing requirements have been met. Throughout this pro- cess, there will be multiple meetings and the CBI may request additional information. The process can take between four and six months. The CBI does not cur- rently charge a fee for licence applications. Third-Country Reinsurers Third-country reinsurers are excluded from the appli- cation of the 2015 Regulations where the reinsurer: • has its head office in a third country; • is lawfully carrying out reinsurance in that third country; and • is carrying out reinsurance (but no other activity) in Ireland. The effect is that a third-country reinsurer is not required to be authorised in accordance with the 2015 Regulations to carry out reinsurance business in Ireland.
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