CIRCULAR NUMBER: FC 2/2024
The Financial Commissioner issues this Interpretative Circular, which shall be referred to as the “Interpretative Circular of the Financial Commissioner (Ombudsman) on how to calculate the cost of using the services of a mediator”, which sets out the costs for the use of the services of an intermediary appointed, at the request of a debtor, for the purpose of restructuring credit facilities.
2. Pursuant to Article 14C(5) of the Law on the Establishment and Operation of the Unified Body for the Out-of-Court Settlement of Financial Disputes of 2010, as amended and/or replaced from time to time (hereinafter “the Law”):
“The cost of using the services of the intermediary may not exceed five hundred euros (€500) and shall be distributed twenty percent (20%) to the debtor and eighty percent (80%) to the licensed institution or credit buyer.
It is understood that the Commissioner may, with his interpretive circular, as defined in subsection (12), determine the method of calculating the cost for the use of the mediator’s services.”
3. Accordingly, and subject to section 14C(5) of the Law, the the Financial Commissioner shall determine the manner of calculation of the cost of use of the services of the ombudsman as follows:
(a) For credit facilities under restructuring, up to one hundred thousand (€100,000), the mediator’s fee shall be set at four hundred euros (€400), of which the debtor shall pay the intermediary the eighty euros (€80) and the licensed institution or the buyer of credit shall pay three hundred and twenty euros (€320)
and
(b) For credit facilities under restructuring in the amount of more than one hundred thousand euros (€100,000), the mediator’s fee is set at five hundred euros (€500), of which the debtor must pay the mediator one hundred euros (€100 ) and the licensed institution or credit buyer four hundred euros (€400).