IRISH FINANCE
HOUSES ASSOCIATION (IFHA)
Description of Services to Members
Séamus O Tighearnaigh,
B.Sc.(Comp.Sc.) FCA FIB
FID MA MBA
MIICM MCMA Secretary General
1 PURPOSE OF ASSOCIATION
1.1 To monitor relevant
external changes and developments of potential interest to the Irish Finance
Industry and to respond to them by the formulation and execution of strategies
developed with member financial institutions regarding relevant products,
practices, legislation, taxation and relationships with external regulators and
other organizations (e.g. Ministerial Departments, Revenue Commissioners,
European Trade Associations)
1.2 To disseminate relevant information to IFHA Member personnel
on industry trends and developments on a cost effective basis and to manage all
necessary logistics for these purposes.
2 DIMENSIONS OF
ASSOCIATION
2.1 The Association has 19 member financial institutions employing
1,400 staff engaged in the provision of asset finance with assets at risk of €5,000
million.
2.2 The Association provides advice in accordance with the above
association purposes to member staff and seeks to maximize synergistic
cooperation between such staff at various Committees.
2.3 The Association represents its members to a wide range of
external bodies and negotiates on their behalves.
2.4 The Association plans and manages
2.5 The Association undertakes periodic confidential surveys on
industry trends and practices (e.g. Quarterly Inter-Firm Statistical
Comparison).
2.6 The Association currently charges its members an annual
subscription approximating €5,400 per annum by quarterly subscription. An applicant for membership must either hold
a Banking license or be prescribed to be a “credit institution for the purposes
of the Consumer Credit Act 1995”
IRISH FINANCE HOUSES ASSOCIATION (IFHA)
3 PRINCIPAL
ACCOUNTABILITIES OF THE ASSOCIATION
3.1 To ensure that IFHA Members are aware of key external changes
and developments (e.g. in legislation, taxation etc) and that their interests
are best represented to external authorities so as to secure maximum feasible
advantage.
3.2 To coordinate the skills and talents of senior member
personnel and external experts where necessary so as to best plan and develop a
common strategic response or initiative for each key issue and presenting such
plans for approval.
3.3 To account for the success or otherwise of IFHA campaigns and
representations to external bodies regarding key issues either referred to IFHA
or detected by IFHA and the consequent outputs arising from such activity. Because of the random nature of the type and
rate of key issues tackled by IFHA, the explanation of accountabilities is perhaps
best achieved by citing examples from recent years. For example, the following crucial concessions
negotiated by the Association with the Revenue Commissioners:
·
establishing of Leased Assets Disposals,
·
establishing the Vehicle Registration Tax Refund Scheme for lessors,
·
establishing the amortization of advance rentals for Corporation tax
purposes
·
establishing the scrapping of VAT on Hire Purchase
charges in the Finance Act 1995.
The IFHA further secured many positive changes from
the Minister for Enterprise and Employment on the Consumer Credit Act 1995
during its development, including a regulation signed into law on 3 December
1996 which had the effect of securing the status “credit institution for the
purposes of the Consumer Credit Act 1995” for all IFHA members.
3.4 To account for the success or otherwise of IFHA campaigns and
systems against fraud in many dimensions (e.g. Wider Fraud Forum, IFHA Fraud
Alert systems)
3.5 To account for the success or otherwise of IFHA sundry actions
to maintain excellent relationships with external bodies both at home and
abroad so as to keep IFHA members in good standing.
3.6 To confidently and confidentially provide the industry with
key statistics on trends and developments.
3.7 To account for the success or otherwise of IFHA sundry actions
to maintain excellent relationships between member staff notwithstanding their
competitiveness so that their cooperation remains optimal.
IRISH FINANCE HOUSES ASSOCIATION (IFHA)
4 KEY CURRENT ASSOCIATION ISSUES
4.1 Major Continuing Issues:
4.1.1 In general the continuation of the need to excel in meeting the
purposes of the job and a continuing high satisfaction rating from the
4.1.2 Seeking change in current vehicle licensing and registration
procedures to further protect members’ secured assets.
4.1.3 Continued representations on the Criminal Justice Act to ensure
satisfactory completion of negotiated issues still outstanding (e.g. Central
Bank approval of the IFHA developed draft Guidelines on Moneylaundering for
Instalment Credit Providers and Lessors).
The Secretary General is currently a member of the Moneylaundering
Steering Committee and the Wider Fraud Forum.
4.1.4 Review of the EU Draft Directive on Consumer Credit.
4.1.5 Planning and developing with relevant external professional
expertise a one day seminar for key industry personnel to review the major
industry issues of concern to the Chief Executives of IFHA member
organizations.
4.1.6 Continued representations on the Executive Committees and
Councils of Eurofinas and Leaseurope and monitoring of EU legislation likely to
affect members.
IRISH FINANCE HOUSES ASSOCIATION (IFHA)
5 KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE WITHIN IFHA
5.1 Current Secretary General: Séamus
O Tighearnaigh
Qualifications: Fellow
of The
Fellow
of The
Fellow
of The
Master
of Arts
Master
of Business Administration
Bachelor of Computer Science
Member of the Chartered
Management Institute
Member of the Irish
Institute of Credit Management
5.2 Brief Curriculum Vitae:
1974/1979
Trained in Ernst & Young and qualified as a Chartered
Accountant passing each exam first time.
1979/1984
Worked in KPMG as “Audit Manager - General Practice” for
a wide variety of major clients both for auditing (particularly computer
related auditing) and corporate finance purposes.
1984 to date
Recruited as Secretary General (S-G) of
IFHA to perform the job herein described. The S-G has developed a
detailed understanding of Legal, I.T. and Accounting matters as they relate to
Finance Houses and the laws and practices of credit granting.