Digital Payments & Fintech · Ireland
Digital Payments & Fintech - Ireland
Ireland has a clear, well-established licensing regime for digital payments and fintech, administered by the Central Bank of Ireland as the single competent authority. It applies the full EU framework (PSD2, EMD2, MiCAR, the Instant Payments Regulation) with national transposing legislation, and separately licenses BNPL/retail credit providers. Ireland is a significant EU fintech hub, having authorised major players such as Kraken under MiCAR.
Payment institutions are authorised under the European Communities (Payment Services) Regulations 2018, which transposed PSD2. The Central Bank assesses governance, risk management, safeguarding and financial-resource requirements; there is currently no application fee.
EMIs are authorised under the European Communities (Electronic Money) Regulations 2011 (transposing EMD2) to issue e-money and provide payment services. Two tiers exist — full EMIs (which can passport across the EU) and Small EMIs.
The Central Bank applies PSD2 in Ireland, including Strong Customer Authentication and licensing of third-party providers as Account Information Service Providers (AISPs) and Payment Initiation Service Providers (PISPs) with API access to customer accounts. PSD3/PSR is anticipated at EU level.
The directly-applicable EU Instant Payments Regulation (EU) 2024/886 requires banks and PSPs to offer 24/7 SEPA instant credit transfers (within 10 seconds) at no extra cost versus standard transfers, with mandatory Verification of Payee (IBAN-name matching).
The Central Bank is the national competent authority under MiCAR; crypto-asset service providers must be authorised as CASPs (applicable from 30 December 2024, with the grandfathering transition for VASPs ending 1 July 2026). Major firms including Kraken have received MiCA authorisation in Ireland.
Since the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Retail Credit and Credit Servicing Firms) Act 2022, BNPL providers must be authorised by the Central Bank as retail credit firms, comply with the Consumer Protection Code and creditworthiness/affordability checks, and are subject to a 23% APR cap.
Machine-assisted translation · verified 5/23/2026 · orientation, not legal advice. English version →