Dillon Eustace bolsters new Regulatory Investigations Unit

Dillon Eustace, a law firm specialising in financial services, has launched a new Regulatory Investigations Unit, which has been bolstered by the newly appointed senior associate Muireann Reedy. The Unit will focus on helping companies address regulatory enforcement issues and has been created in response to the Central Bank of Ireland’s increased enforcement actions.

The financial services sector has seen ever increasing levels of regulation and inspection as well as more intrusive and robust regulatory interventions. Over the last decade the Central Bank of Ireland has taken action against 91 entities and 16 individuals, imposing fines of over €39 million on regulated entities/individuals under its Administrative Sanctions Procedures (ASP). This excludes the fines of €5 million each which were imposed on Quinn Insurance and INBS in 2013 and 2015 respectively, but which were waived/not collected for public interest reasons. In 2013, the Central Bank of Ireland’s sanctioning powers increased substantially seeing a doubling of maximum fines on individuals and entities from €500k to €1 million and from €5 million to €10 million respectively.

In her position, Ms Reedy will be working closely with lead partner Andrew Bates and the specialist team to further assist clients, acting on behalf of insurance companies, investment firms, funds and fund managers, credit unions and individuals. She will advise on investigations by the Central Bank of Ireland, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement and the Chartered Accountants Regulatory board.

Prior to joining Dillon Eustace, Ms Reedy spent over five years working in the Central Bank’s Enforcement Division, where she was responsible for all aspects of running regulatory investigations under the Central Bank’s Administrative Sanctions Procedure, including leading regulatory interviews, settling enforcement cases and referring a case to Inquiry. She was involved in the Investigation and settlement of an Administrative Sanctions Procedure with Quinn Insurance in 2013, and the Central’s Bank first settlement with a credit union since the ASP was fully extended to credit unions.

Commenting on Ms Reedy’s appointment, Mr Bates said: “We are delighted to announce Muireann’s appointment as a senior associate to the new Regulatory Investigations Unit. Muireann’s appointment and the creation of the Unit has been motivated by an increasing level of regulatory inspections and Administrative Sanction Procedures being undertaken by the Central Bank of Ireland and other cross border regulatory enforcement agencies.

“Her addition to the team will help us build on our strong reputation as a market leader providing regulatory enforcement and compliance services domestically and internationally.”