Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Act 2016

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Amendment of section 5 of Principal Act

6. Section 5 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (2) —

(i) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):

“(a) the giving of such information to the Minister, as he or she may reasonably require for the purposes of the granting of approval under section 2 or the making of an agreement under section 4;”,

(ii) by the substitution, in paragraph (b), of “participating finance provider” for “participating lender” in each place where it occurs,

(iii) by the substitution, in paragraph (c), of “participating finance provider” for “participating lender”,

(iv) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (d):

“(d) without prejudice to the generality of section 8(4), the method of payment of the premium under section 8 and the time or times at which the premium shall be paid;”,

(v) by the substitution, in paragraph (e), of “participating finance providers” for “participating lenders”,

(vi) by the substitution, in paragraph (f), of “finance providers” for “lenders”, and

(vii) by the substitution, in paragraph (h), of “finance agreement” for “loan agreement”,

(b) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3):

“(3) A scheme under this section shall specify conditions (in this Act referred to as ‘applicable conditions’), with which a finance provider shall, for the purposes of the granting of approval under section 2, comply, relating to—

(a) the policies and practices of the finance provider as respects—

(i) the provision of financial products generally,

(ii) the provision of financial products to qualifying enterprises,

(iii) the assessment of the credit risk or financial stability of qualifying enterprises,

(iv) the recovery of sums owing to the finance provider by a qualifying enterprise or property provided to a qualifying enterprise by the finance provider under a qualifying finance agreement, and

(v) the provision by qualifying enterprises of security for financial products provided to qualifying enterprises under qualifying finance agreements,

(b) the sources from which the finance provider obtains his or her finance or funding,

(c) the credit history of the finance provider and, in the case of certain classes of finance provider as may be specified in the scheme, a person who has, subject to subsection (6), a controlling interest in the finance provider,

(d) the accounts and financial performance of the finance provider,

(e) in the case of a finance provider referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of ‘finance provider’, the payment by the finance provider of any moneys that may be received by that provider from the Minister pursuant to a guarantee under section 4 in respect of a qualifying finance agreement, to the person who provided the financial product to which that agreement relates,

(f) the administration and management of the finance provider,

(g) the financial product or financial products to which the scheme applies, including—

(i) the information and documentation to be provided by the finance provider to the Minister in relation to the provision of such financial products,

(ii) the information and documentation to be provided by the finance provider to qualifying enterprises in relation to the provision of such financial products, and

(iii) the interest, charges and other costs (if any) that may be applied in relation to the provision of such financial products to qualifying enterprises,

(h) the procedures in relation to the supervision of finance agreements entered into on the finance provider’s behalf by members of staff of the finance provider, and

(i) where applicable, the capital reserves of the finance provider,

declared in a credit guarantee scheme to be conditions with which a finance provider shall comply before an approval in respect of that finance provider may be given under section 2.”,

(c) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (4):

“(4) A scheme under this section shall specify—

(a) the class or classes of—

(i) qualifying enterprise,

(ii) finance provider,

(iii) financial product, and

(iv) finance agreement,

to which the scheme shall apply,

(b) the conditions that shall be complied with in relation to the entering into of a finance agreement by a participating finance provider with a qualifying enterprise,

(c) the purposes for which moneys or other property received by qualifying enterprises pursuant to a finance agreement may be applied,

(d) the maximum value or values of one or more financial products that may be provided to a qualifying enterprise under one or more finance agreements to which the scheme applies, and

(e) the methodology referred to in section 8(1).”,

and

(d) by the insertion of the following subsections after subsection (4):

“(5) (a) The Minister may require that any information referred to in subsection (2)(a) given to him or her by a person in compliance with a scheme under this section be attested as to the truth of the information by a statutory declaration made by that person.

(b) The Minister may require that any document, information or report referred to in subsection (2)(f) given to him or her by a finance provider in compliance with a scheme under this section be attested as to the truth of the contents of the document or report or, as the case may be, as to the truth of the information, by a statutory declaration made by that finance provider.

(6) For the purposes of this section, controlling interest shall be construed in accordance with subsection (14) of section 494 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 and, accordingly, that subsection shall apply in relation to a finance provider subject to any necessary modifications.”.