IRELAND Trends and Developments Contributed by: Grainne Callanan and Elaine Long, Matheson LLP
appropriate steps to mitigate the risk that a customer will understand an activity to be, or to carry the pro- tections of, a regulated activity where this is not the case. Within the CPC, unregulated activities refer to financial services offered to consumers in the State that are not subject to existing regulatory oversight. Accordingly, the Central Bank explained that this Sup- porting Standard for Business applies to regulated financial services firms when providing unregulated financial products and services. Similarly, additional disclosure requirements also apply only where a regulated financial services firm is providing unregulated financial products and services. The Supporting Standards for Business and require- ments do not apply when regulated financial services provide non-financial products and services as part of their business model. Changes and clarifications to frauds and scams CP 158 proposed a new standard for businesses, requiring them to control and manage their affairs and systems to offset the risks to consumers from finan- cial abuse. In the Feedback Statement, when it came to the definition of financial abuse, the Central Bank confirmed that it is “disproportionate and impractical to expect firms to apply the financial abuse require- ments to future potential customers.” Consequently, the Central Bank amended the Standards for Busi- ness to clarify that it applies only to consumers to whom the regulated financial services firm is provid- ing services. As a result of this amendment, firms will not have a duty to protect potential customers from financial abuse. Changes and clarification to protecting consumers in vulnerable circumstances With CP158, the Central Bank included proposals to promote a better understanding by firms of the mean- ing of vulnerability and to improve how firms support vulnerable customers. Some of the matters highlight- ed in the Feedback Statement include: • the definition of consumer in vulnerable circum- stances was changed to reflect that the circum- stances that cause vulnerability may be permanent or temporary;
• the proposed requirement on firms to record infor- mation on consumers in vulnerable circumstances was changed to provide firms with more flexibility on how they can address the many different ways in which vulnerability may present; • the Guidance on Protecting Consumers in Vul- nerable Circumstances was updated to include training on adult safeguarding. This will form part of the recommended modules that should be covered under the staff training requirement under the CPC; • guidance was added to explain the use of the word ‘harm’ in terms of the relationship between a firm and consumers; • the requirements that regulate the appointment of a Trusted Contact Person were changed so that, if a firm is aware that a decision-making representative has been appointed in respect of a customer under the ADMA, it should defer to those arrangements rather than contacting any Trusted Contact Person nominated by that customer. The Central Bank maintains that this change will ensure that there is clarity for firms on who they should engage with when dealing with vulnerable customers; and • as regards the disclosure of sensitive information by customers, these requirements were changed to provide firms with more flexibility on how they address the many different ways in which vulner- ability may present. Changes and clarifications to additional policy proposals CP158 also set out “additional policy proposals”, cov- ering areas such as consumer credit and the acknowl- edgement and processing of instructions. In the con- text of the insurance sector, the following is relevant, with the following being some of the matters set out in the Feedback Statement. • It was confirmed that the introduction of an explicit opt-in requirement for gadget, travel, dental, and pet insurance products will proceed. The Central Bank explained that the proposed measures will not prevent automatic renewal in these insurance categories; they simply add an additional step to ensure consumers are fully aware before entering an automatic renewal arrangement. The require- ments will apply to new contracts entered into after the requirements take effect.
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