S.I. No. 417/2004 - Asset Covered Securities Act, 2001 (Section 27(4)) Regulation 2004

Section 33C of the Central Bank Act, 1942 (as amended) designates the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (the “Authority”) as being the body responsible for exercising the powers conferred on the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland by Section 32 (10) of the Asset Covered Securities Act, 2001 (No. 47 of 2001). The Authority hereby makes the following Regulation:

1.   This Regulation may be called the Asset Covered Securities Act, 2001 (Section 27(4)) Regulation 2004.

2.   In this Regulation the “Act” means the Asset Covered Securities Act, 2001 (No. 47 of 2001) as amended. A word or expression that is used in this Regulation and is also used in the Act has, unless the contrary intention appears, the same meaning in this Regulation as in the Act.

3.   The eligible financial institutions designated for the purposes of paragraph (a) of the definition of “credit transaction” in Section 27(3) of the Act shall be:-

(a)        (i) any credit institution which is authorised within the State or any other EEA country, or

(ii)a bank which is authorised to receive deposits or other repayable funds from the public and is located in Canada, Japan, the Swiss Confederation, or the United States of America, and

(b)        which is rated by:-

(i) Moody’s Investor Service at A1 or higher in respect of its long term debt, or P-1 in respect of its short term debt (the “Moody’s rating”), or

(ii) Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc, at a rating equivalent to the Moody’s rating, or

(iii) Fitch Ratings Limited at a rating equivalent to the Moody’s rating, or

(iv) rating agency acceptable to the Authority for this purpose at a rating equivalent to the Moody’s rating.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This note is not part of the Regulation and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.

This Regulation designates eligible financial institutions for the purposes of the definition of “credit transaction” in relation to designated mortgage credit institutions.