How Do I Sign Michigan Banking Form

How do i industry sign banking michigan form safe

good evening everyone i'd like to welcome you to our 2020 information seminar it's a pity we can't meet in person this year but we welcome the opportunity to engage with you virtually we're delighted with the level of interest in the event with over 300 attendees registered we have two purposes this evening firstly from our perspective to provide some regulatory updates to you including on our upcoming publications and regular free framework changes and secondly from your perspective consider the impact of the covert 19 pandemic on credit unions including what you should be prioritizing in terms of responding to it clearly 2020 has been a challenging year for credit unions both operationally and financially i'd like to take this opportunity to commend all of you for the hard work put in over 2020 to have ensured that your your members were able to continue to access their credit union services has been commendable and it's been so central to their lives other unions have been effective in maintaining the continuity of services it's important that this does not distract from the broader strategic and commercial challenge that faces credit unions we will shortly publish our seventh edition of the federal conditions of credit unions the data and trends set out in the report reflect well-known challenges that credit unions have faced for many years challenges that are accentuated by kova 19. continued decline in annual surpluses across the sector is a notable feature in the report this declining trend confirms the ongoing threat of sustainability across the sector boards must remain cognizant of future viability as they approach capital planning they must ensure they maintain sufficient capital reserves to protect member savings in particular in the context of their year in year-end decision making the most striking feature of the report trends is the growing gap between savings and loans we expect you'll be very concerned about the implications of the gap for the sustainability of your credit union boards must focus on the risks that flow from balance sheet imbalances managing saving savings inflows and lending is a core part of the broader commercial challenge for credit unions today in terms of successfully intermediating between members as savers and members as borrowers lending is the primary driver of income putting member savings to productive economic use in terms of the provision of credit to members should be your priority it is one of the primary purposes of a credit union and will enable you to better balance savings versus loans this is fundamental to our broader recovery and to your sustainability some in the sector point to regulatory changes as the answer to commercial challenges they offer proposals that would place additional risk on members for instance by seeking to deliver sustainability through the pursuit of increased investment returns that would expose members funds to risk or equally seeking a reduction in minimum capital requirements as savings continue to grow increasing the risk to members funds commercial challenges are addressed with commercial solutions not greater member risks therefore we urge credit unions to focus on their commercial challenges and to prudently lend to members to support their needs as thoughts turn to recovery in the economy and in our communities across the country now is the time to focus on prudently evolving the business model by using the lending capacity provided in our 2020 lending regulations this will best serve members interests and it offers the right path towards managing your commercial challenges we welcome the recent publication of the ceo forum's work stream materials these public publications are a very timely contribution to credit union business model development in what has been a very challenging time for the business model congratulations are due to the chair of the forum donald mckillip and the steering group ceos for the progress they have made in the registry we're very pleased to have initiated the independent ceo forum in 2018. we welcome the recent review of the form led by the steering group following that review and as planned we're stepping back from our secretariat role on the forum but as regulator we look forward to continuing to engage with the forum and the ceos involved and we do encourage those participating ceos to continue to drive the forum forward and to show leadership on behalf of the sector which is a very important form of sector collaboration has been an important feature of 2020 while cooperation was central to support networks such as the metal approach that helped deliver business continuity in 2020 given rising viability concerns there's also a need for a greater sense of commercial urgency and strategic coherence coming from the sector collaboration amongst credit unions can help this in the regulatory framework area 2020 has been yet another busy year of change following on from the very significant regulatory framework reviews in the last three years key framework developments i would highlight this year are firstly a brexit-related transitional arrangement for uk based investments which will apply from january 2021 should credit union boards to decide to retain such investments secondly our 2020 review of the 2016 savings framework changes we recently decided to retain the existing 100k regularly savings limit this reflects the lack of funding need for credit unions and the importance of protecting members funds reflecting on all the recent framework changes in in the last number of years our expectation is that the flow of regulatory framework change will and must slow instead credit unions should be focused on addressing their commercial challenges in 2021. by availing of the lending and investment capacity already provided which remains largely unutilized other than regulatory change what will be our focus in 2021 next year we'll continue to support and indeed challenge credit unions through our supervisory engagements through our sect publications through our work supporting sector restructuring and through our regulatory input into your business model development back to tonight we're planning to cover a range of interesting regulatory and supervisory topics david lynch will kick off on our supervisor expectations for your risk management and on loan forbearance anna marie finnegan will cover the 20 20 year-end process and 2020 agms column henry and john maher will update on changes to the lending framework and related risk considerations eamon clark will address sector restructuring anna marie finnegan will look at brexit preparedness and transitional arrangements for investments and finally elaine byrne will provide some closing closing remarks but for now i hope you find our seminar are worthwhile and informative and i'll hand you over to david lynch for the first topic thank you for listening thanks patrick good evening everyone the current challenging operating environment for credit unions including both current and emerging risks from brexit and the covet 19 pandemic environment highlights the importance of having a robust risk management framework which aligns with the registry's vision for the sector strong credit unions in safe hands the effective management of risks is an integral part of the protection of member funds in particular now given the uncertain economic environment whilst the area of risk management is broad i will briefly focus on the importance of embedding risk management frameworks in credit union strategy formulation and operations systems of controlled framework supervisory expectations of an effective risk management framework and an update on covet 19 loan forbearance on the 8th of september 2020 the registry issued its ford prism supervisory commentary publication which i hope you all have had an opportunity to review the prism supervisory commentary documents evidence-based findings across prism risk categories including governance which is aimed at supporting boards and management teams in reviewing and embedding improved risk management frameworks the registry is encouraged to see some examples of effective governance including boards demonstrating ownership of risk management however it is a source of concern that the registry continue to identify recurring types of risk issues including some fundamental risk issues which evidences a lack of significant progress in the evolution of core foundations across governance risk management and operational capabilities in some credit unions this next slide relates to the board of directors taking ownership and oversight of risk management to assist in meeting their legislative and regulatory obligations the importance of credit unions embedding an effective tree lines of defense framework cannot be overstated it is critical to enable the provision of oversight and assurance to the board of directors the board of directors need to ensure that the risks management and compliance functions are appropriately resourced and supported in order to be able to carry out their functions having regard to the nature scale complexity and risk profile of the credit union an embedded culture of risk management is required rather than a tick box approach the board in the formulation of a coherent strategic plan and an appropriate risk appetite should utilize and actively engage with its risk management framework i am aware of credit unions who convene strategy away days to facilitate the development of strategic initiatives which is to be welcomed but there appears to be an absence of active risk management and involvement in some of these strategy formulation events insufficiently detailed risk management and compliance reports to the board of directors was identified in some supervisory engagements undertaken in 2019 the effective use of risk management information including key risk indicators can assist the board of directors in effectively undertaking its non-executive roles in making informed decisions and taking appropriate actions where necessary the next slide the development and embedding of an effective systems of control frame is an integral part of robust risk management credit unions are reminded of the 2020 financial year end circular issued on the 4th of september which included the registry supervisory expectations on a number of matters including systems of control whilst the registry acknowledge the unprecedented challenges which your credit unions have faced given the operating environment over recent months your credit unions need to be vigilant regarding the potential vulnerabilities in it systems in particular arising from cyber risks and ensure on an ongoing basis the credit joints have strong and robust systems of controllers in place to maintain ongoing complaints with 70 section 76g of the credit union act which talks to information systems arising from gomez supervisory engagement with credit unions in the covet 19 environment the registry is aware that some credit unions have extended their processes to facilitate remote working and our remote access to member services which need to be reassessed and associated operational risks identified and managed as part of our supervisory engagements the registry continues to find failings in internal controls including deficiencies and systems of control related to banking cash management and inadequate segregation of duties credit unions should have appropriate oversight and supervision of cash management processes including preventative and detective controls to minimize and mitigate the risk of misappropriation of credit union funds i would encourage credit unions to review the credit union handbook which is accessible on the central bank website to ascertain further guidance on an effective internal control framework this next slide summarizes the registry supervisory's expectations in relation to risk management it is strongly encouraged that credit unions consider all of the evidence-based weaknesses in the prison supervisory publication how they may relate to your business and where they arise to implement on a timely basis the necessary changes to mitigate these risk issues credit unions shall ensure that they have adequately resource risk management functions sufficiently detailed risk management and compliance reports which enabled the board and management team to be made aware of risks and enabled execution of appropriate risk mitigants to address such risks and the policies and practices in place are aligned and consistent to the board approved risk appetite in addition to our ongoing bilateral supervisory engagement with individual credit unions the registry are also considering how a thematic review may support credit unions in addressing recording rnp risks the object objective about undertaking a thematic review on the topic of risk management would be to see evidence of improvements in list management frameworks and governance culture within credit unions and finally an update on loan forbearance as you are aware the registry have engaged directly with all credit unions since april 2020 to gather specific information in relation to member requests for modification of loan repayments in the context of the cove at 19. i take this opportunity to thank you for engaging constructively with the registry on this important work based on data submissions to date the overall level of forbearance requests by number and by value is not substantial in the context of total credit union sector lending less than one percent of gross loans outstanding the registry will continue to monitor these trends through analysis of the monthly submissions and relevant follow-up engagement to understand the level and impact on the financial resilience of individual credit unions azure credit joins will be aware on the 8th of june a circular was issued in relation to payment breaks which set out details on this key area for credit unions including from both a member protection and potential prudential perspective and articulation of the registry's related supervisory expectations in terms of the overall approach in dealing with law and flexibility requests the central bank expects credit unions to act in a way that protects the best interests of borrowers and gives appropriate support to borrowers whose incomes and affordability have been affected by covert 19. when considering such requests from a prudential perspective border directors should take account of areas outlined in the circle some of these include the relevant regulatory framework requirements the financial position of the credit union the level of distress in loan books should be prudently considered and be reflected in provisioning levels and effective and efficient management of the stress loans is important to protect reserves of your credit unions which are not unlimited thank you my colleague anna malie will now present on 2020 year-end related matters good evening everyone uh just checking uh that people can hear before i start off yep you're fine i'm right thanks jennifer yeah thank you uh thanks david for that presentation and and as i say good evening everyone and i'm now going to give a short presentation on the 2020 financial year-end and a look at 2020 uh agms so i'm going to give a very quick uh recap on the key messages uh set out in our circular i'm going to give an update on the year-end process that is in progress and then going to give just a quick overview on some key financial figures and then i'll talk about 2020 agms and give an update on the finance and miscellaneous provisions bill which was published on the 18th of november so i'll move now to the next slide so as you're aware yeah we issued a year in circular early in september and as uh david has already touched on this uh highlighted a number of key issues and expectations uh around the 2020 year-end process on this saturday some of the key messages on the slide and they relate to loan provisioning uh the maintenance and building of reserves and systems and controls which david has already uh touched on and i suppose one of the key messages for 2020 is that the year-end process needs to be informed by the challenges that credit unions face and these include the challenges presented by ovet 19 and indeed brexit and that boards need to take a prudent approach to reserve management given the uncertainty in the economic outlook so i'm just going to give a quick update on the next slide on the year-end process so at this stage we've received about 118 uh draft financial statements so that's as of the first of december uh representing about half of uh credit unions so this compares with a return rate of about 71 uh for this point uh last year and suppose we'd like to take the opportunity to thank credit unions who have engaged with us and have already submitted financial statements and to encourage other credit unions to continue to focus on timely preparation and audit of the 2020 accounts and as we set out in the circular it's important that the financial position of the credit union is finalized and audited and therefore available to inform a board and management decision making and also so that this is available to be presented to board uh two websites to members as appropriate so i'm now just going to uh give um some high level um data just in terms of some comparisons between 2019 and 2020 data and i just put up some figures on the slide there i'm not going to go through them all i suppose these highlight some of the issues and and challenges that um patrick uh mentioned in his opening uh remarks um of interest and just also to mention uh that there will be additional data uh provided in the upcoming financial conditions publication so this is due to be published in in the coming week and will provide additional data and information on trends and i think this will be useful uh in providing data to default to inform strategic uh discussions at an individual uh credit union level so moving now uh to look at uh 2020 agms and just by way of background uh the 97 act includes a number of provisions relating to general meetings or angel general meetings and you'll be familiar with those uh i suppose i just point out uh the requirement for agms to be held in the state and that's a time and place uh provided for under uh credit union rules and move now to the next flight uh i just thought it was useful in the context of the challenges associated with 2020 hdm to recap on some of the key purposes for agents and to set these out on the slide here so these would include the provision of information to members on the financial position of the credit union and also member participation in key decisions so ensuring that elections of new board members can proceed and also seeking a member ratification on key decisions including those arranged transfers and engagements provision of new services and common bond extensions so the next slide focuses on uh sort of the challenges associated with holding agms in 2020 and that traditionally agms have been held in physical uh locations and votes have been cast by members who are in attendance at agms and in light of uh covert restrictions consideration has been given to uh alternative options uh for holding uh virtual our remote uh agms however uh there was a level of uncertainty as to whether uh this could be done uh within the requirements of the 1997 act on this was this related uh to the fact that virtual agm's would not have been uh contemplated uh when the 97 actually has being drafted and enacted and also the reference to a place in the 97 act i think would most likely be interpreted as a reference to a physical place and i suppose our view and the registry on this was that it was important that agm's could proceed in line with legal provisions uh while also meeting public health measures and that legal clarity uh was required so moving now just to talk about the finance miscellaneous provision bill so following engagement uh between the department of finance uh the central bank and sector representative bodies this bill has now been published it was published on the 18th of november the bill and explanatory notes are available on the eruptus website and it's provided a link there uh that will be in the slides uh when they're circulated um on my next slide i've just set out and some of the the provisions uh that are included in the deal so the bill introduces amendments to the 97 act which are designed to facilitate remote or partially remote agms a couple of those of key features are the extension to the deadline for agms so this is now moved to the end of the interim period and the interim period runs from the date of announcement of the bill up until the 30th of april as 2021. mentioned the bill allows credit unions at their discretion uh to host general meetings remotely either wholly or partially and the bill deals with the holding of agms both during the interim period and then beyond the interim period and i think the key distinction there is that during the interim period an agm or a general meeting can be held remotely notwithstanding this not being provided for in the rules of the credit union so it doesn't change it require a change to the rules and while crediting can continue to hold agms remotely after the interim period uh it would need to be provided for in the rules for for that to happen and i just mentioned electronic voting which is permitted both in the interim period and outside the interim period over in the next slide to some additional provisions uh so directors are permitted to cancel relocate or change the means of a general meeting where necessary there's also some provisions around providing information and notice of credit unions and also provisions in relation to permission proxy voting uh which is subject to certain requirements and must be provided for uh within the world of a credit union so just a final comment uh before i finish just in terms of timelines uh when the press release was issued uh by the department yet was indicated that this would be a priority for announcement uh by the doll before the end of the year uh but just as well notice at that stage uh but that would be dependent uh on timelines around the doll process and so that's the end of my presentation and i'll uh send you on now to uh john and colin thanks for your attention thanks and were you can you hear me okay yeah i can yeah perfect thanks very much and good evening to everyone my name is colin henry and i work on the policy assurance and regulatory approval team in the registry together with my colleague john maher i'm going to give you a brief update on the recent lending framework changes that come into effect earlier this year we will also highlight some key points on risk considerations for credit union seeking to become more involved in longer term lending and so first i will provide a recap on the recent changes to the lending framework as you may recall to review the lending framework commenced in early 2018 on 24th of october 2018 a consultation paper cp 125 was published and in that we listed the objectives of the review namely to ensure that an appropriate lending framework for credit unions remains in place which facilitates growth in loan to asset ratios on a gradual basis facilitates development of balanced loan portfolios to underpin sustainable income generation avoids inappropriate levels of duration risk and concentration risk and appropriately considers assets and liability management or aln risk the review was informed by sector engagements uh formal requests received from the kuac implementation group total section 35 lending limits uh lending sector data and trends the domestic lending landscape the existing lending framework and broader balance sheet considerations including in relation to alm following the public consultation process uh consideration of stakeholder feedback and a statutory consultation process we published our feedback statement on cp125 and final draft amending regulations late last year in november on the next slide i have highlighted the final changes to the lending framework i they include the removal of the five and ten year lending maturity limits uh which were based on the percentage of outstanding loans new combined concentration limits for house and business lending on a tiered basis and expressed to the percentage of total loans these include a 7.5 limit for all credit unions a 10 limit for credit unions with assets of at least 50 million euro and regulatory reserves of at least 12.5 and an increased 15 limit for credit unions with assets at least 100 million euro subject to an application process the introduction of a maximum loan majority of 10 years for unsecured loans and the extension of the maximum loan maturity for secured loans so from the previous 25 years to 30 years now other changes are set out on the slide and include and defining redefining the commercial loan category of lending that's now the business loan category and rescinding the section 35 requirements the final changes came into effect on the 1st of january 2020. on the next slide here this highlights some of the key messages following the review the suite of changes followed a comprehensive review of the lending framework the revised lending regulations allow credit unions to undertake increased longer-term lending to support increased diversification further additional capacity is now available for larger stronger credit unions who meet certain requirements it's important to note of course that credit unions wishing to undertake increased house and business lending understand the risks involved and my colleague john will address this topic shortly the revised lending regulations represent significant and fundamental structural changes to the framework and provide sufficient capacity and flexibility to enable safe and sound business model transformation on a sustainable basis where conditions in the sector are such that there's an evidence basis to adjust capacity in the future this could be achieved by amending the level of the limits on the next slide i it simply shows a timeline overview of our review of the lending framework i would add is that in may 2020 we published an application form for the increased fifteen percent limit and an associated guidance note which i will address on the next slide this slide sets out some information on the 15 limit in particular on the application process credit unions with total assets of at least 100 million for two or more consecutive quarters can apply to the central bank for the increased 15 limit in order to grant approval for the limit the central bank must be satisfied that the credit union has demonstrated that the approval would be consistent with the adequate protection of savings of members and that would it will be effective and proportionate having regard to the nature scale and complexity of the credit union as set out in the regulations the central bank will also consider the total realized reserve position of the credit union a credit union seeking to avail of the 15 limit must complete an application form have it approved by the board and signed by the chair and submitted and the relevant supporting documentation to the central bank the two formal stages of the application process are stage one submission of the completed application and the assessment of the application by the central bank and stage two the approval refusal stage in advance of submitting a completed application form we would recommend that credit unions discuss the proposed application with their supervisor in the registry the supervisor may be in a position to identify issues that the credit union should address prior to completing and submitting an application on this next slide it just identifies some useful resources we have published on our website on the topic with that i will hand you over to john maher thank you hi thanks a lot calm hopefully can am i being picked up there okay yeah okay all right again thanks column um i just want to take a few minutes um everybody to outline um for the expectations of the registry in terms of applications and submissions for the enhanced limits i know the 15 being the enhanced limit however i would stress that i think that the principles apply to all credit unions given that even the base limit is a considerable increase in capacity from previous regulations and uh i think that's even important so it is important i think to all credit unions regardless of size given the capacity so also then just maybe point to some particular guidance and guidelines that exist that may be uh i think you'll find useful in terms of looking at it even expanding your uh presence in-house or business lending so uh maybe on the next slide um if i can have that please um yeah okay sorry yeah yeah i'm going ahead i'm here i'm looking at another screen so if we just go backwards thanks a lot jeb uh yeah i think um just grouping under two headings and we would be very anxious that uh credit unions uh take an approach and i've classified it over the headings of demonstrate and illustrate um and i suppose under the under the demonstration heading we'd very much want credit unions to understand their uh the new concentration limits and how they operate alongside one another and they are linked to total assets so it's very different from the previous um you know 10 to 15 or 30 to 40 percent and then it also flexes with total asset and growth and i think that's important as well because the impact of loan repayments um also and then obviously growth in total assets and so understanding the uh the new limits is obviously important i think the uh the relevant regulatory frameworks then that that house lending and business lending operate under is also critical and there's quite an amount of regulation associated with that and you know a lot of this is consumer and is consumer-led and it is mandatory and is constantly changing based on either european uh directors that are come down and are transposed or else on domestic legislation so understanding of that is obviously critical um also then i think it would be important to be able to demonstrate that uh the expansion of these areas is consistent with uh business model positioning as reflected in the strategic plan so um i think the logical link then is to the illustration that would be expected as part of the uh submission i think it's very much around the um the uh being able to show how you see this impacting on your business over uh the relevant time frames in many of the cases this will be a significant growth in particular business categories maybe where there wasn't a significant emphasis previously so actually the building of the business and the growth over time and the impact on revenue and expenditure line on um on balance sheets is absolutely critical um so from our point of view seeing that documented and outlined in detail in the first instance we believe is absolutely critical for the credit union itself so uh rather than seeing this as an additional workload on the part of the credit union we see this is absolutely essential for internal management measurement and monitoring as you go a roadmap of sorts and the detail in this case is quite critical obviously given the you know the nature of the business loan the nature of mortgage loans the sort of typical loan size typical activity behind that and the risks that that come with that risks including in relation to conduct regulatory risk conduct risk reputational risk these are key areas um you know and from a consumer point of view house loan is you know typically you know the largest uh you know the largest uh um you know investment that they will make and obviously associated loans so it's it's pretty critical in all respects obviously as part of that chain that the credit union is in a position to meet its obligations on all sides because of obviously the implications of not getting it correct so you know and i would stress that the issue there is very much in relation to detail and and obviously the supporting policies you know in particular say the credit policy is you know essential in that respect and so the documentation of that and the nature of that and the uh i suppose the clarity and the unembed you know i suppose beyond a big and ambiguous nature of that in relation to how you intend to operate these businesses and obviously the opposite of that is that a lack of clarity or transparency in these you know i d n't think it serves uh i don't think it serves you know staff members be it lending officers i don't think it serves uh the members the borrowers and i think it makes for a much you know a a a a much uh simpler and implementable plan in all respects so that's really just a a couple of i suppose pointers uh on the next slide i really just point out to a particular um document that we believe is uh useful in this respect and it um is the guidance in relation to long-term lending it's a number of years um you know it's late uh 2017 issued and i have gone through it in recent days i believe it's as relevant now in terms of the principles and goes through the the primary risk considerations and i'd recommend it from the point of view of hopefully a practical guide in terms of guiding you in relation to preparation not just of the application but as i said actually of the actual business planning in relation to expanding your business in these particular areas um and then final slide um i would just make a particular point in relation to the whole area of new product and service development obviously getting involved in business lending where maybe there was a previous no business lending or very minor um exposure to it and likewise house lending is a it's a significant development and the eba guidelines there the european banking authority guidelines i would point to in particular there in relation to the product oversight and governance i think i represent a very useful and practical guide and they're easily accessed by typing in the eba slash gl 2015-18 um guidelines they're very much uh consumer-led um from the point of view of consumer protection and that's to be very typical of european um of european legislation and directives in so far as they actually end up being transposed down into irish regulations and and irish law and and i think particularly the whole issue about product oversight and product design in particular is critical and you know the issues that we've had in recent years uh you know nationally in relation to flaws in product design and flaws in what happens for example in things like tracker mortgages and that you can see the the sort of consumer detriment that arose as a result the cost to the organizations involved and the significant reputational issues that arise from from a lack of attention to detail in the whole area of product design and that extends to the whole product oversight and governance area so um that's really all i'd have to say in respect of that my final point and reiterate what column said earlier is early and regular engagement with supervisors um you know in relation to your intentions um is very much uh recommended uh i think you'll find it useful from the point of view of being able to have been pointed to appropriate guidance or guidelines and i i you know i i would recommend that in all respects so that's really all i have to say and i just wish you well in your endeavors in terms of developing your business in those particular areas and i'll hand back to the chair in relation to that thanks a lot jennifer just before we start can everybody hear me okay yep here you find okay thanks good evening everybody manny thanks for the opportunity to speak with you this evening and i hope that everybody is keeping well in these turbulent times with that i've spoken with a number of you bilaterally over the years but for those of you that i haven't spoken with before my name is eamon clark i am the intervention and restructuring team lead this is the team within the registry whose responsibilities include overseeing the ongoing restructuring of the credit union sector via transfers of engagements i intend to give a brief presentation to cover the topic of restructuring this season i'll interchange the use of the terms restructuring and transfers engagement but with the same intended meaning in keeping with my colleagues who have already presented i'm happy to answer any questions that you may have on restructuring in the question and answer section towards the conclusion of this evening's information seminar with this in mind i'd like to start if i can by providing an overview of restructuring my first slide highlights some of the key features of transfers of engagements including firstly transfers of engagements are voluntary in nature the process typically but not always involves a lower assets credit union known as the transfer or taking the strategic decision to enter into transfer of engagements discussions with another credit union known as the transferee this decision can be taken for a host of reasons for example with the intention of expanding the range of services available to members could also be taken to address current or anticipated governance operational or financial weaknesses and constraints within the transferring credit union secondly i'd like to draw your attention to the fact that there's a central team within the registry that has responsibility for interacting with credit unions who are seeking to advance a restructuring process our role within this team is to facilitate and over and see the transfer process to progress viable transfers of engagements with a view to ensuring that both members of the transferee and the transfer or credit union stand to yield advantages from the completion of a proposed transfer thirdly as highlighted on the slide the completion of viable restructuring projects supports the registry's vision for the sector toes help to maintain and expand the provision of credit union services across the country and maintain the financial stability and well-being of credit unions generally one of the central aims of restructuring is to maintain the longer term availability of credit union services in common bonds across the country further information on restructuring is available in the thematic review uh pub of restructuring published last year the key findings of this review were between 2013 and 2019 approximately 420 000 members of transfer or credit unions became members of transferee credit unions and enjoyed continued and bolstered access to credit union services the review also found that there was not a commensurate decrease in the number of individual business locations to match the reduction of individual registered credit unions and that indicates that the local presence of credit unions has been maintained through restructuring finally the review noted that transferee credit unions have delivered higher ground loan growth than the rest of the sector and experience a lower level of increase in operating costs by eliminating duplicated costs and achieving scale economies moving to the next slide this slide provides a graphic illustration of restructuring activity in the credit union sector from 2008 to 2020 some key points to note are as can be seen in the table at the top of the page restructuring has been the primary driver in the changes of the profile of assets across the sector the completion of transfers of engagements has led to the number of credit unions with asset sizes greater than 100 million more than doubling between 2013 and 2020. restructuring has occurred in 25 of the 26 counties with monahan being the sole exception a significant volume of restructuring has occurred in dublin cork limerick and galway counties the period 2015-2017 witnessed the highest volume of transfer of engagement activity this period coincided with the time that the credit union restructuring board rebo was active however in the three-year period since the conclusion of reba restructuring has con has continued albeit at a lesser pace for example to date in 2020 a total of 13 transfer of engagement processes have completed there is a sustained level of transfer processes that are currently underway in addition to further transfer processes that will contin that will commence in the future moving on to the next slide this slide provides an overview of the typical steps and stages involved in the transfer of engagement process these are sequential steps with each step completed in order and subjected to review prior to the process moving to the next step the first stage is the initiation phase high-level business case stage in this stage credit unions contact rcu and indicate their intention to proceed with a toe rca will then seek to meet with the credit unions in order to provide an overview on the process and establish indicative timelines at this stage the credit unions will be required to set out a rationale for the proposed transfer in a high-level business case to be submitted to the registry following the completion of phase one or cu will set out terms of reference for the asset reviews and due diligence reviews of each credit union asset reviews will typically require the credit unions to engage an independent third party to complete reviews of the loan book investments fixed assets and governance relating to assets in the due diligence review phase the credit unions will engage an independent third party to report on areas such as financial performance governance systems and controls operation compliance i.t hate or and legal assuming that all issues identified in the asset review due diligence reviews can be addressed the transfer will then proceed to the detailed business case stage this state should clearly identify the benefits and synergies into proposed transfer it should also serve as a detailed strategic plan for the combined credit union and will include the proposed governance and management structures detailed business case should also be supported by financial projections a business plan supporting the achievement of these projections and an implementation plan for the operational execution of the transfer following the detailed business case stage the transfer will move to the approval and confirmation stage under the 1997 act a member's resolution at a general meeting is the default mechanism by which a transfer of engagements is completed transfers can also be completed by way of board resolution in circumstances where the registrar deems that the use of expediency is warranted members are notified of the proposed transfer through statements known as the section 130 pack with the time and with the timing of issuance depending on whether the transfer is completed by member resolution or by board resolution following the passing of a resolution the credit unions will formally apply to have the transfer approved by the registrar this process will approve will involve the publication of newspaper analysis which notify members that representations can be made to the credit unions or the central bank within a 21 day period following the conclusion of the representation period and subject to consideration of any representations received the central bank will either confirm or refuse to confirm the transfer of engagements the final phase of the transfer process is the registration upon receipt of confirmation that all properties vested in the transfer or credit union has been conveyed to the transfer e-credit union rcu will proceed to cancel a registration of the transfer or which formally concludes the transfer process the timeline for any transfer of engagements is dependent on factors such as the scale and complexity of the transferee and transfer ores the availability of third parties to conduct the asset reviews and due diligence reviews and the results of these reviews typically the overall process can take between 6 and 12 months to complete but this will vary depending on the individual circumstances applying in certain circumstances where risks are particularly pronounced the registry will work with the credit unions involved to expedite the timelines attached to the toe process turning to the next slide on the conclusion of this segment of the information seminar rcu continues to view restructuring as a key component of the future strategic direction of the credit union sector we encourage all credit unions to give consideration for future transfer of engagement activity and whether this may be appropriate as part of delivering on the wider strategic objectives of the credit union depending on the circumstances of the individual credit union this may involve acting as either transfer or or transferee as credit unions continue to assess opportunities to further develop their business model future restructuring activity may include both the continuation of transfers of smaller asset size credit unions to large or asset size credit unions and the coming together of larger asset-sized credit unions rcu will continue to engage with credit unions and propose futures restructuring activity to provide support and assistance in so far as possible we welcome the opportunity to discuss any potential transfer of engagement proposal please contact any of the following members of the intervention and restructuring team with any query you may have and names and contact details are included on the slide pack that will be sent and with that i'd like to conclude my presentation thank you again for your time and i appreciate the opportunity to speak with you during the seminar i'll now hand you to the next presenter which i think is anna marie thank you thanks eamon and just checking again that people can hear yeah yeah yeah so this is the final uh set of slides and there's only three slides left uh you'll be glad to hear and just to mention before i uh start speaking to the slides that we will uh share the slide packs uh with attendees after so we will email them to credit unions after this evening's event so the final topic of the evening is brexit preparedness and transitional arrangements so moving to the the first slide i suppose we wanted to take the opportunity to touch on brexit and brexit preparedness this evening as it remains a key issue uh for sectors there's still considerable uncertainty around brexit and the potential impacts on the irish economy and in light of this credit unions need to continue to identify monitor and action potential brexit associated risks and i suppose in this regard we stress the need to consider credit union specific vulnerabilities so these might be based around the location of a credit union a specific aspect of the business model of a credit union or characteristics of a local economy uh that the credit union is exposed to uh so i suppose this process needs to be uh ongoing i've also just set out as well some of the key brexit-related risk considerations uh that we are focused on so these relate to a credit risk and i suppose ascertaining levels of credit risk and credit exposure that may be impacted by brexit and ensuring adequate provisioning is in place again that theme of the need for prudent reserve management in the context of brexit risks also that focus on operational risk which has been touched on uh in some of the earlier uh presentations and also investment and investment risk and i'm going to talk a little bit more about investment in the context of the transitional arrangement on my next slide so by way of background under the existing regulations credit unions are currently permitted to invest in deposits and bank bonds issued by credit institutions and and for the purposes of the regulations accredited institution is defined um as a an entity authorized as such under a c or d so at the end of the 12-month transitional period based on this current definition an investment with a credit uh a uk credit institution that doesn't have an eu authorization or hasn't sought an eu authorization would no longer fall within the definition of a credit institution under the credit union regulations and as such would not be in compliance with the regulations so in order to address this issue and this is based on engagement uh with stakeholders over the last year uh we're introducing a transitional arrangement and what this will do is it will permit retention of existing investments so that's investments that credit unions currently hold in uk credit institutions that would become a non-compliant post brexit so it provides that for fixed term investments and my understanding is that that will cover the majority of such investments they can be held to maturity and for any investments that don't have a fixed maturity date uh there's two-year window for those to be addressed so i'll move now to the final side uh of the uh presentation and this is just to give some information on some additional amendments that will we we will be making out to the regulations so the first of these is an amendment to the definition of relevant liquid assets so we're amending the definition to include balances in the minimum reserve account in excess of the ecb minimum reserve requirements and this is to reflect the introduction last year of the ecb's two-tier remuneration system and as a result of that credit unions are choosing to put additional liquid funds in their reserve deposit account at the central bank and where these funds are in excess of the minimum reserve requirement they are withdrawal by the credit union and therefore it will meet the criteria to be considered as liquid also one other additional change in relation to maturity limits so we are going to extend marginally the maturity limits for investments in state securities and supernational bonds and the reason for that is just to ensure that credit unions aren't precluded from new issuance our primary issues in these types of securities we understand that sometimes uh when a 10-year bond is issued it's issued with a slightly longer maturity than 10 years so this will just cover that issue so in terms of the process uh we're currently involved in statutory consultation with the minister kuac and the credit union bodies and it is our intention that the regulations would commence uh before the end of the year so that brings me to the end of the slides i'm now going to hand back to elaine who is going to coordinate at the q a if any people have any questions they'd like to address to us thanks very much