Central Bank Act, 1997

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Amendment of Act of 1971.

70.—The Act of 1971 is hereby amended—

(a) by the deletion of subsection (1) (as amended by the European Communities (Deposit Guarantee Schemes) Regulations, 1995 ( S.I. No. 168 of 1995 )) of section 7 and the substitution therefor of the following subsection:

“(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, a person, other than the Bank, shall not, in or outside the State, carry on banking business or hold himself out or represent himself as a banker or as carrying on banking business or on behalf of any other person accept deposits or other repayable funds from the public, unless he is the holder of a licence.”,

(b) by the substitution in section 2 (as amended by section 29 of the Act of 1989) for the definition of “banking business” of the following definition:

“‘banking business’ means—

(a) the business of accepting, on own account, sums of money from the public in the form of deposits or other repayable funds whether or not involving the issue of securities or other obligations, howsoever described, or

(b) the business aforesaid and any other business normally carried on by a bank, which may include the granting of credits on own account;

but excluding—

(i) deposits with a trader from persons employed by him in his trading business or from his customers in the normal course of his trading business and deposits or instalments in respect of the letting, leasing or selling of goods under a hire-purchase agreement, or a leasing agreement or a credit-sale agreement, or

(ii) a sum or sums of money accepted as security or collateral or as a bond for the repayment of a debt or the performance of a contract related to goods or services, or

(iii) a sum or sums of money accepted by way of advance or part payment under a contract for the sale, hire or other provision of goods or services, and repayable only in the event that the goods or services are not in fact sold, hired or otherwise provided, or

(iv) a sum or sums of money accepted solely as a premium in respect of the issue or renewal of a life assurance policy issued by a holder of an authorisation under the European Communities (Life Assurance) Regulations, 1984 ( S.I. No. 57 of 1984 ), or

(v) a sum or sums of money accepted as a contribution within the meaning of the Pensions Acts, 1990 to 1996, or

(vi) a sum or sums of money accepted by a person where it can be shown that—

(I) no part of the business activities of the person so accepting or of any other person is financed wholly or substantially out of those funds, and

(II) such funds are, in the normal course of business, accepted on a casual or incidental basis only,

or

(vii) a sum or sums of money accepted under financial contracts, (within the meaning of the Netting of Financial Contracts Act, 1995 ) which may include the acceptance of collateral,

and ‘banking’ and cognate words shall be construed accordingly.”,

(c) by the insertion in section 2 of the following subsection:

“(2) Where the Minister is of the opinion that it is consistent with the orderly and proper regulation of banking he may, after consultation with the Bank, by order amend this section to add thereto any category of funds or delete therefrom any category of funds mentioned therein for the time being.”,

(d) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a) of section 8 (2) (as amended by section 31 of the Act of 1989):

“(a) Subject to such conditions, if any, as it may consider appropriate, the Bank may exempt any person or any class or classes of person from the requirement to hold a licence in respect of the issuing of any category or categories of securities or other obligations, howsoever described, where—

(i) the requirements would arise only out of the issuing of such securities or other obligations to which the definition of banking business relates; and

(ii) the Bank is of the opinion that the exemption would not conflict with the orderly and proper regulation of banking.”, and

(e) by the substitution of the following section for section 27 (as amended by section 43 of the Act of 1989 and the Regulations of 1992) of the Act of 1971:

“27.—(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, a person shall not advertise for or otherwise solicit deposits or other repayable funds from the public on his own behalf or on behalf of any other person.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to advertising for or otherwise soliciting deposits or other repayable funds from the public—

(a) by the holder of a licence or the Bank or a person to whom, by virtue of section 7(4) of this Act, section 7(1) of this Act does not apply, or

(b) by a person authorised by virtue of the European Communities (Licensing and Supervision of Credit Institutions) Regulations, 1992, to carry on business in the State, or

(c) by any person on behalf of a person specified in paragraph (a) or (b) of this subsection.

(3) If an advertisement or other solicitation for deposits or other repayable funds from the public is published and it does not include the name and address of the person who arranged with the publisher for the advertisement or solicitation, then the Bank may, at any time within the period of twelve months after any publication of the advertisement, request the publisher to supply the name and address of that person to the Bank and the publisher shall forthwith comply with that request.

(4) In this section ‘deposits or other repayable funds from the public’ does not include the acceptance of a sum or sums of money excluded from the definition of banking business under section 2 of the Act of 1971.

(5) Reference in this section or section 58(3) of this Act (as amended by section 9 of the Act of 1989) to the solicitation of deposits, however expressed, includes every form of solicitation for deposits including, in particular, the display or publication of any such matter by way of notice, leaflet, circular, pamphlet, brochure, photograph, film, video, sound broadcasting, television, electronic communication or personal canvassing.”.