Factsheets

This ECB paper is relevant to banks with derivatives and trading books; it explores the operational aspects and hidden costs associated with the wind-down of a bank’s trading book. An orderly wind-down of a trading book may be a recovery option or an element of a bank’s preferred resolution strategy. This paper details principles of ECB’s supervisory expectations with respect to both recovery and resolution planning.

As a result of Brexit, and particularly following the introduction of the UK’s Financial Services and Markets Act, there is a potential for increasing divergence between EU and UK financial services regulation.

On 28 April 2021, the Irish Government transposed IORP II (Institution for Occupational Retirement Provision), an EU directive on the activities and supervision of pension schemes, into law.

On 30 January, the Central Bank published Guidance for (Re)insurance Undertakings on Intragroup Transactions and Exposures following a consultation that ended in September 2022.

Green House Gas (GHG) emissions are classified into categories of Scope 1, Scope 2 or Scope 3. This is a way of grouping emissions between those created by the company and those created by its wider value chain.

The European Commission (EC) has adopted key initiatives, which aim to reduce compliance costs for large businesses operating across the European Union. The BEFIT proposal introduces a single set of rules to determine the tax base for large businesses that operate out of more than one Member State.

The Defective Concrete Products Levy (“DCPL”) was introduced in Finance Act 2022 and came into force on 1 September 2023.

Throughout 2023, the OECD Inclusive Framework has continued its work on the development of the Pillar Two Global anti-Base Erosion Rules in advance of the introduction of the rules on 31 December 2023.

The concept of a new suite of standards for the UK and Ireland, aligning with international financial reporting standards, was first conceived in 2002

Employment Tax Updates covering: Enhanced Reporting Requirements (ERR), Small Benefit Exemption, Shares Options – Revenue’s Compliance Focus and PAYE Revenue Audits

Finance Act 2022 introduced the requirement for employers to notify Revenue of certain payments made to employees known as ‘reportable benefits’. The introduction of this reporting requirement is subject to a commencement order; however, the target implementation date is 1 January 2024.

The introduction of Pillar Two brings unprecedented changes to the international tax landscape, the likes of which haven’t been seen for decades. The rules will create a fundamental shift in the way certain groups are taxed as well as an additional global compliance and reporting obligation for those within scope of the rules.

The world of work is evolving quickly; finance departments are increasingly facing competing priorities; and the roles of finance leaders are expanding rapidly.

Counterparty credit risk was identified as a supervisory priority by the ECB for 2022 - 2024, as banks had been increasingly offering capital market services to riskier, leveraged and less transparent counterparties, in particular with non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs), at a time when the interest rate environment was low.

Over the past few weeks, the Irish Revenue Commissioners (‘Revenue’) has sent in excess of 20,000 letters to non-resident landlords (‘NRL’) and their collection agents, informing them of the upcoming changes to the administration of withholding tax for NRLs. In these letters, Revenue has also detailed the information that landlords will be required to provide to their tenants or collection agents.

During 2022, the Revenue Commissioners launched a share-based remuneration project. Revenue analysed employer annual share reporting forms (e.g. Form RSS1) against available data such as personal tax returns. They identified discrepancies such as employees under-declaring share option tax and underpaying Capital Gains Tax (CGT).