STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS

S.I. No. 595 of 2002

Trustee (Authorised Investments) Order 1998 (Amendment) Order, 2002.

I, Charlie McCreevy, Minister for Finance, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by subsection (1) of section 2 (inserted by section 80 of the Central Bank Act, 1997 ( the Trustee (Authorised Investments) Act, 1958 (No. 8 of 1958) , and having complied with subsection (3) of the said section 2, hereby order as follows:

1.         This Order may be cited as the Trustee (Authorised Investments) Order 1998 (Amendment) Order 2002.

2.         This Order comes into operation on the 2nd day of January, 2003.

3.         The Trustee (Authorised Investments) Order 1998 is amended by substituting the following for the Second Schedule to that Order:

“SECOND SCHEDULE

1.         A trustee shall not invest in instruments denominated in a currency other than the currency of the State if, immediately after the investment, the proportion of the trust funds invested in currencies other than the currency of the State would exceed 40 per cent. of those funds.

2.         (1)      A trustee shall not invest in the equity of a company if, immediately after the investment, the proportion of the trust funds invested in that equity would exceed 10 per cent. of those funds.

(2) Nothing in this paragraph shall prevent a trustee from taking up a bonus issue of shares, or a rights issue of shares, accruing to an investment of the trust funds in the equity of a company.

3.          (1)       In making an investment of trust funds a trustee shall take due account of -

(a) the nature of the liabilities of the Trust,

(b) an appropriate diversification of investments, including appropriate diversification of credit and counterparty risks, and

(c) an appropriate liquidity of investments.

(2) A trustee shall review the investment of trust funds at intervals of not more than six months.”

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation)

This Order amends the Second Schedule to the Trustee (Authorised Investments) Order, 1998 which specifies conditions to apply to the investment of trust funds affected by the Trustee (Authorised Investments) Act, 1958 . Its main effect is to remove the restriction on the proportion of trust funds which may be invested in a single collective investment scheme or insurance contract and to replace this with a requirement to have regard to certain considerations such as concentration of investment risk. The Order comes into operation on 2 January, 2003.