Investor Compensation Act, 1998

Authorised officers.

9.—(1) Subsections (2) and (3) shall apply in relation to an investment firm in respect of insurance business carried on by that investment firm as an insurance intermediary.

(2) Where the supervisory authority forms the view that an insurance intermediary may be unable to repay money belonging to a client of that insurance intermediary, the supervisory authority may authorise in writing a person to be an authorised officer to investigate whether the insurance intermediary is unable to repay money to or otherwise discharge its obligations towards clients of the insurance intermediary and to make a report to the supervisory authority in respect of that insurance intermediary.

(3) Sections 64 and 65 of the Act of 1995 shall apply to an authorised officer appointed under subsection (2) as if the person appointed were appointed for the purposes of the Act of 1995 and the powers available to an authorised officer under those sections applied in relation to insurance intermediaries for the purposes of this Act.

(4) The following shall be authorised officers for the purposes of this Act—

(a) in relation to investment firms which are investment business firms—

(i) an authorised officer appointed under section 64 of the Act of 1995, or

(ii) an inspector appointed under section 66 or 73 of the Act of 1995;

(b) in relation to investment firms which are stock exchange member firms—

(i) an authorised officer appointed under section 55 of the Stock Exchange Act, 1995 , or

(ii) an inspector appointed under section 57 or 64 of the Stock Exchange Act, 1995 ;

(c) in relation to investment firms which are credit institutions—

(i) an authorised person appointed under section 41 of the Building Societies Act, 1989 , or

(ii) an inspector appointed under section 45 of the Building Societies Act, 1989 , or

(iii) an authorised officer appointed under section 17 of the Central Bank Act, 1971 (as amended by section 36 of the Central Bank Act, 1989 , and by Regulation 39 of the European Communities (Licensing and Supervision of Credit Institutions) Regulations, 1992 ( S.I. No. 395 of 1992 )), or

(iv) an authorised officer for the purposes of section 24 of the Trustee Savings Bank Act, 1989 ,

and the rights and powers of such authorised officers shall, with the necessary modifications, apply in relation to obtaining such information as the supervisory authority may require to enable it to exercise any of its functions under this Act.