Fintech & payments regulation in Ireland (2026)

Yes. To provide electronic-money or payment services in Ireland you need authorisation as an Electronic Money Institution (EMI), supervised by the Central Bank of Ireland, under the EU E-Money Directive (2009/110/EC) and the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2).

The Central Bank of Ireland.

Application and supervisory fees that vary by country (often €5,000–€25,000), plus safeguarding and audit costs.

Typically roughly 3–12 months; the regulator has up to 3 months to decide once the application is complete.

The application file centres on programme of operations listing each payment service you will provide; business plan with a three-year budget forecast; evidence of the €350,000 initial capital; governance arrangements and internal-control mechanisms; plus fit-and-proper evidence for directors and qualifying shareholders.

Incorporate in the member state and establish real local substance (registered office and part of the business conducted there). Build the application file: programme of operations, three-year business plan, governance, AML/CFT, safeguarding and security policies. The authority then assesses the file and, once authorised, you can begin operating.

Yes — an EMI authorisation passports across the whole EEA (all 27 EU states plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein).

The Central Bank of Ireland is the sole competent authority for authorising and supervising payment institutions and e-money institutions. It operates a defined authorisation process (updated Guidance Note issued May 2025) and charges no application fee for PI/EMI licences.

PSD2 was transposed by S.I. No. 6 of 2018 (Payment Services Regulations 2018), effective 13 January 2018, introducing regulated third-party providers — Account Information Service Providers (AISPs, registration) and Payment Initiation Service Providers (PISPs, authorisation) — under CBI supervision, with Strong Customer Authentication mandatory since 14 September 2019.

Ireland applies the directly effective EU Instant Payments Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/886), amending the SEPA Regulation. Euro-area PSPs had to be able to receive SEPA Instant Credit Transfers from 9 January 2025 and to send them from 9 October 2025, at no higher cost than standard SEPA credit transfers; the CBI is the SEPA competent authority.

Since May 2022, indirect and hire-purchase BNPL providers must be authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland and comply with the Consumer Protection Code (creditworthiness assessment, advertising). The Consumer Protection Code 2025 extends these obligations, and EU Directive 2023/2225 (CCD2) — bringing most BNPL fully within EU consumer-credit law — must be applied from 20 November 2026.

The Central Bank of Ireland runs an Innovation Hub (established 2018, over 600 firms engaged) and a thematic Innovation Sandbox Programme. Its second cohort, 'Innovation in Payments,' ran as a six-month programme in 2026 with eight participating firms working on interoperability, financial inclusion and new payment technologies.

Fintechs operating in Ireland are also subject to directly applicable EU regimes: MiCA (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114) for crypto-asset service providers and stablecoin issuers — under which, e.g., Confirmo was authorised by the CBI as a payment institution in April 2026 — and DORA for ICT operational resilience across financial entities.