IRELAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Keith Robinson, Barry Tyrrell and Julia Mullin, Dillon Eustace LLP
holder approval has been granted for such an increase. With respect to proportionality, the European Union (Capital Requirements) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 introduced exemptions from the variable remuneration requirements relat - ing to the components and deferral of variable remuneration where staff: • work in a small and non-complex institution (as defined in CRR) with assets on average equal to or less than EUR5 billion during the four-year period preceding the current finan - cial year; and • to employees with an annual variable remu - neration of EUR50,000 or less and does not represent more than one-third of the employ - ee’s total annual remuneration. The Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Acts 2010-2021 (the “CJA”) ensure that the Irish AML and CFT regime is in line with the requirements of Directive (EC) 2005/60 (the “Third EU Anti-Money Launder - ing Directive”), Directive (EU) 2015/849 (the “Fourth EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive”) and Directive (EU) 2018/843 (the “Fifth EU Anti- Money Laundering Directive”). The CJA impose the following obligations on banks. • They have to outline the customer due diligence requirements they are required to apply, and the instances when they must be applied. • They have to set out the requirement to com - plete both a business level risk assessment and customer level risk assessment. 5. AML/KYC 5.1 AML and CFT Requirements
• They have to provide AML and CFT training to staff. • They have to accurately identify the “ben - eficial owner” behind a customer where the customer is not a natural person and conduct a risk assessment in respect of the beneficial owners. • They have to set out requirements for internal policies and procedures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Furthermore, as required by Article 30(1) of the Fourth EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive, a central register of beneficial ownership of cor - porate entities has been established and is maintained by the Irish Companies Registration Office. The CBI published updated AML and CFT Guide - lines for the financial sector on 23 June 2021. These Guidelines outline the expectations of the CBI regarding banks’ compliance with their AML obligations, and include a detailed analy - sis around risk management, customer due dili - gence requirements, reporting obligations and integral governance and training. The revised Guidelines account for the Fifth EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive and set out further expectations for banks in respect of customer protection via de-risking, beneficial ownership identification and verification as well as transaction monitoring. The CBI is the competent authority in Ireland for ensuring compliance by banks with the CJA and is authorised to take reasonably necessary measures to ensure that banks in Ireland are complying with the applicable AML and CFT legislation. As part of this, the CBI is empow - ered to issue sanctions (including fines) to banks for breaches of the CJA. The sanctions imposed
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