Page 269 - Invited Paper Session (IPS) - Volume 1

IPS152 Giovanna B. et al.

Irish Special Purpose Entitites (Spes): Concepts
and challenges of the implementation of the
results of the IMF Task Force
Giovanna Bua, Brian Golden
Central Bank of Ireland

Abstract
Ireland is home to a large number of entities, many of which are potentially
Special Purpose Entities. There is a wide variety in both the business models
and objectives of the vehicles, which span from traditional securitisation to
investment vehicles, funding and loan origination vehicles, and often form part
of cross border, multi-entity corporate structures. The Central Bank of Ireland
has been collecting data from these entities since 2015 using a locally
developed definition. This paper aims to present an overview of some of the
different structures active in Ireland. The authors will then assess some of these
structures against the guidance provided by the IMF BoPCom TFSPE in order
to underline strengths and weaknesses.

Keywords
ownership, sponsor, institutional units, IMF BOPCOM TFSPE, pass-through

1. Introduction
The statistical treatment of SPEs has been widely discussed at a global level
for more than a decade. This work advanced significantly with the publication
of the Final Report of the Task Force on Special Purpose Entities by the IMF
(TFSPE) in October 2018. The TFSPE proposed an international definition of
SPEs in the context of cross-border statistics as well as a data collection
framework for cross-country comparable SPE data.
The Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) extended granular balance sheet
reporting to non-securitisation SPEs in Q3 2015, on the same basis as those
already applied to securitisation SPEs since Q4 2009 under European
legislation. The Statistics Division at the CBI collects this data for multiple
purposes, namely statistical purposes, regulatory monitoring and financial
stability analysis. The definition for data collection was simply availing of a
particular tax provision in Irish legislation, covering SPEs that engage in an
extensive range of financial and leasing transactions.

2. Special purpose entities in Ireland
Each SPE reports its entire balance sheet on a quarterly basis, mostly on a
security-by-security basis, and profit and loss information annually. In
addition, each SPE fills out a registration form, containing, among other items,

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