IRELAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Niall Esler, Shane Martin, James O’Doherty and Laura Whitson, Walkers
on MiFID Suitability are stated to be particularly applicable to robo-advisers, given the limited amount or total absence of human involvement. Developers of robo-advisers involving crypto- assets will also need to consider their licensing and related conduct requirements under MiCAR, including in relation to suitability assessments where providing advice or providing portfolio management services. 3.2 Legacy Players’ Implementation of Solutions Introduced by Robo-Advisers No information is available in this jurisdiction. 3.3 Issues Relating to Best Execution of Customer Trades A robo-adviser that is authorised under the MiFID Regulations and executes orders on behalf of clients is subject to the MiFID II rules, including the client order handling rules and best execution requirements. MiFID II and the MiFID Regulations also set out related requirements for portfolio managers placing orders or where firms receive and transmit orders. MiCAR introduces best execution requirements for CASPs.
reporting to the Central Credit Register may be required. Loans to Individuals and SMEs By contrast, lending to individuals may require a retail credit firm authorisation under the CBA 1997, subject to certain exemptions. The scope of the Irish retail credit regime captures credit agreements, including buy-now-pay-later prod - ucts or other indirect credit, as well as hire-pur - chase agreements and consumer-hire agree - ments. The Consumer Credit Act, 1995 contains another domestic-only regime for persons pro - viding “high-cost credit” to consumers. Lending to consumers is subject to a range of consumer protection requirements. RFSPs (including EEA lenders operating in Ire - land on a cross-border basis) may also be sub - ject to certain conduct of business rules when lending to individuals, certain small companies or SMEs. These rules include the Consumer Pro - tection Code 2012 (CPC) and the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013 (Sec - tion 48) (Lending to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises) Regulations 2015 (the “SME Regu- lations” ). Credit Servicing Credit servicing (including legal title loan owner - ship, managing or administering a credit agree - ment and related borrower communications) in relation to loans to individuals and SMEs requires authorisation in certain circumstances under the CBA 1997. This regime also applies to hire-purchase agreements and consumer-hire agreements. Separately, the EU-wide credit servicers direc - tive (Directive (EU) 2021/2167) has been intro -
4. Online Lenders 4.1 Differences in the Business or Regulation of Fiat Currency Loans Provided to Different Entities
There are significant differences between the regulation of lending to individuals and to com - panies in Ireland. Commercial Lending Commercial lending (ie, lending to corporates) does not generally require a financial services licence in Ireland, although AML registration and
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