Clearing House Group Minutes - Department of Taoiseach

CRD Update
The Capital Requirements Directive and Regulation which are currently being discussed at
trilogue stage are vitally important pieces of legislation. The need for stronger capital and
liquidity standards for EU financial institutions is evident from the financial crisis. Ireland
has played an active role in the negotiations during the Council Working Party group stage
and will continue to monitor the progress of this proposal.
General Tax Update
Budget / Finance Bill 2013
The annual consultation process with industry in respect of Budget and Finance Bill 2013 has
commenced. Preliminary meetings have taken place with all of the CHG Tax Subgroups and
we are awaiting formal pre-Budget submissions from some of the Groups (Insurance and
Banking & Treasury).
FATCA is one of the Department‟s (and Revenue‟s) big priorities in terms of Finance Bill
2013 and negotiations with the US on an Intergovernmental Agreement are currently
underway.
Financial Transactions Tax (FTT)
It became clear at the ECOFIN meeting in June that an EU-wide FTT would not be agreed,
and those countries who favour the tax will now try to introduce it by way of “enhanced cooperation”,
under which at least nine countries must participate. This requires those countries
to write to the Commission asking it to produce a formal proposal for such a directive. No
letter has issued to date and therefore there is no revised proposal. However, it is believed
there will be a sufficient number of countries and that any new proposal will not substantially
differ from the current proposal.
Ireland will not be among the participating countries but the Minister for Finance has stated
we will not stand in the way of those who want to introduce an FTT under the “enhanced cooperation”
mechanism.
The Minister had previously stated his view that an FTT would be best applied on a wide
international basis to include the major financial centres; and that if it could not be introduced
on a global basis, it would be better if it were introduced on an EU-wide basis to prevent any
distortion of activity within the Union.
EU Wide Bank Resolution Proposals
Ireland has been supportive of the Commission‟s work to prepare a proposal for a Directive
to establish a framework for the recovery and resolution of credit institutions and investment
firms. Now that it has been published Officials from the D/Finance and the Central Bank are
engaging with it at Council Working Group level.
Banking Union
Ireland supports the development of a banking union for Europe in principle but does not
favour a fragmented approach. Further banking integration is supported and Ireland would
favour its application to all banks in the 27.