Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2007

Further amendment of Investor Compensation Act 1998.

23.— The Investor Compensation Act 1998 is further amended—

(a) in each of subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of section 30(2)(c), by substituting “the provision of investment business services” for “the provision of investment services”;

(b) in section 30, by adding the following subsection:

“(5) An investment firm is, in the circumstances described in section 52(10) of the Act of 1995, taken to hold client money and investment instruments.”;

(c) in section 32(2), by substituting “a client” for “an investor”;

(d) in section 32, by inserting the following subsection after subsection (2):

“(2A) A client may appeal to the Irish Financial Services Appeals Tribunal against a decision of the supervisory authority under subsection (2) not to treat the application as if it were made within the stipulated period.”;

(e) in section 32(4), by substituting “a client” for “an individual”;

(f) in section 33, by substituting the following for subsection (2):

“(2) On being appointed as administrator to an investment firm under subsection (1)—

(a) the administrator has, in relation to the firm, all the powers of an authorised officer under the Act of 1995 and the European Communities (Markets in Financial Instruments) Regulations 2007, and

(b) the powers available to an authorised officer under that Act and those Regulations apply in relation to the firm accordingly.”;

(g) in section 33(3), by substituting “those eligible investors” for “those investors”;

(h) in section 33(3A), by substituting “those eligible investors” for “those investors”;

(i) by substituting the following section for section 33A:

“Court to appoint liquidator, etc. of investment firm as firm’s administrator in certain circumstances.

33A.— The Court shall, on appointing a liquidator, receiver, the official assignee or a trustee in Bankruptcy in respect of an investment firm, also appoint the liquidator, receiver, official assignee or trustee as administrator of the firm, unless the supervisory authority, with the agreement of the Company, otherwise requests.”;

(j) in section 34(3) by substituting “the eligible investor” for “the investor”;

(k) in section 34(6) by substituting “the Company shall endeavour insofar as possible” for “the Company shall endeavour”;

(l) in section 35, by deleting subsection (4);

(m) in section 35(5A), by substituting “the claim of the eligible investor” for “the claim of the investor”;

(n) in section 35(6), by substituting “the Act of 1995, section 47 of the Act of 1989 or the European Communities (Markets in Financial Instruments) Regulations 2007” for “the Act of 1995 or section 47 of the Act of 1989”;

(o) in section 35(6A), by substituting “the claim of the eligible investor” for “the claim of the investor”;

(p) in section 35(8), by substituting “money belonging to a client and held by an investment firm (being a credit institution) in connection with the provision of investment business services” for “monies belonging to an investor and held by an investment firm which is a credit institution in connection with investment business”;

(q) in the definition of ‘ RAV ’ in section 36(1), by substituting “client” for “investor”, where secondly appearing;

(r) in section 38(1), by substituting “clients” for “investors”;

(s) in section 38(2), by substituting “Markets in Financial Instruments Directive” for “Investment Services Directive”;

(t) in section 38(3), by substituting “entrusted to” for “placed with”;

(u) in section 39(1), by substituting “the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive” for “Article 17 of the Investment Services Directive”;

(v) in the definition of “ client ” in section 40(1), by substituting “the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive” for “Article 17 of the Investment Services Directive”;

(w) in section 40(1), by substituting the following definition for the definition of “ investment firm ”:

“ ‘ investment firm ’ means an investment firm authorised in another Member State for the purposes of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive;”;

(x) in section 40, by substituting the following subsections for subsection (2):

“(2) As soon as practicable after—

(a) becoming authorised in another Member State for the purposes of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, and

(b) establishing a branch in the State in accordance with that Directive,

an investment firm may, by giving notice in writing to the Company, exercise the option of participating in investor compensation arrangements in the State in accordance with Article 7.1 of the Investor Compensation Directive. On giving such a notice, the firm becomes an investment firm for the purposes of this Act, subject only to the exceptions specified by this section.”;

(y) in section 42(3), by substituting “investor compensation scheme approved under section 25” for “investor compensation scheme under this Act”.