title: Ireland — Conduct, Safeguarding & Promotions | World Payments Monitor canonical: https://payments.gi/jurisdictions/ireland/w1b/ publisher: Asymmetric Intelligence ### W1b Conduct, Safeguarding & Promotions 1 gap limited signal Confirmed confirmed 2026-06-24 Central-bank deposit option under PSR 2018 reg. 17 is unusable in practice following ECB Decision (EU) 2025/222 (applying from 9 April 2025); commercial-bank segregation, eligible-asset investment and insurance remain. Head of Safeguarding (PCF-56) controlled function applies from 10 February 2026 under S.I. 20/2026. Open gap — wpm-int-2 Safeguarding reconciliation and audit intake claims (prior-cycle K7-K9) were not independently verified this cycle._Gibraltar/Crown Dependencies is a methodology-flagged under-indexed vector; recorded as searched_none_material for IE._ Horizon · 2026-03-24 (± a quarter) Consumer Protection Code 2025 enters into force in Ireland_Adopted, not yet in force · Tier 3 source_ Horizon · 2026-02-10 (± a quarter) Head of Safeguarding (PCF-56) role comes into operation_Adopted, not yet in force · Tier 1 source_ Standing sub-brief · as of 26 June 2026 300 words · last cycle 2026-10-20 #### Conduct, Safeguarding & Promotions Conduct and safeguarding obligations are the live regulatory frontier for Ireland's non-bank PIs and EMIs. Irish PIs and EMIs must safeguard consumer funds either by segregation in a separate account with an EEA-authorised bank or by coverage under an insurance or guarantee policy, per PSD2 and EMD2 as implemented through the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013, the PSR 2018 and the EMR 2011; safeguarding is a CBI key priority. The safeguarding model directly affects customer-fund protection and operating cost for IE-licensed PIs and EMIs, and it falls squarely on the non-bank PI/EMI population rather than on bank PSPs, which hold customer funds on balance sheet under separate prudential rules. The dominant forward-dated item is the Consumer Protection Code 2025, which comes into effect on 24 March 2026 (published 24 March 2025), representing domestic gold-plating of consumer protection with cross-sectoral requirements against financial abuse, fraud and scams, and protections for vulnerable consumers; it is underpinned by S.I. 81/2025, and the corporate consumer threshold is raised to EUR 5m turnover from EUR 3m. All regulated firms, including payments firms, must implement the enhanced conduct, vulnerability and fraud requirements by that date. Because the Code applies cross-sectorally, it reaches both bank PSPs and non-bank PIs/EMIs, distinguishing it from the safeguarding obligation that is specific to the non-bank population. #### Outlook The conduct trajectory is escalating. The Consumer Protection Code 2025 is the defining near-term implementation deadline, with a hard in-force date of 24 March 2026 that requires firms to have remediated conduct, vulnerability and anti-fraud processes ahead of supervision. Safeguarding will remain a stated CBI priority, keeping the segregation-or-insurance model and its cost implications under active supervisory attention for non-bank firms. The combination signals a jurisdiction intensifying its conduct expectations even as the underlying licensing architecture stays stable. Periodic update · new data 2026-10-20 #### Conduct, Safeguarding & Financial Promotions The Consumer Protection Code 2025 entered into force on 24 March 2026, replacing the Consumer Protection Code 2012 as the governing conduct framework for firms regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland, a category that includes electronic money institutions and payment institutions. This is a confirmed, in-force conduct standard rather than a proposed or consultative one, and it applies directly to Ireland's payments-sector conduct obligations. Of particular relevance to payments firms is the Code's Error Notification Template process, which is engaged where consumers experience a payment-safeguarding shortfall that causes them loss. Firms operating under electronic money institution or payment institution authorisation should treat this process as part of their standing conduct obligations under the new Code, distinct from the safeguarding rules themselves, which govern how client funds are held and protected. The transition from the 2012 to the 2025 Code represents the kind of baseline conduct-framework renewal that affects every regulated payments firm operating in Ireland, regardless of whether it is a bank-affiliated or non-bank electronic money institution or payment institution, since the Code applies uniformly across Central-Bank-regulated firms rather than differentiating by institutional type for this particular requirement. No further safeguarding-specific guidance, audit findings or reconciliation requirements beyond the Code's confirmed entry into force were identified; the underlying safeguarding reconciliation and audit intake claims from prior cycles were not independently re-verified; the finding is limited to confirmation that the 2025 Code is now the operative conduct standard for the sector. #### Outlook The period following the Code's March 2026 commencement is the relevant window for observing how Irish-regulated payment firms operationalise its requirements in practice, including use of the Error Notification Template process for payment-safeguarding shortfalls causing consumer loss. No further developments in this area, such as enforcement action under the new Code or supplementary Central Bank guidance, were identified, so the near-term outlook rests on firms' implementation of the Code as confirmed rather than on any further regulatory change. **4 earlier distinct update(s)** Periodic update · new data 2026-10-06 #### Conduct, Safeguarding & Financial Promotions The Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013 (Section 48(1)) (Minimum Competency) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 — S.I. No. 295 of 2026 — came into operation on 28 July 2026, extending Ireland's Minimum Competency Regulations regime to cover MiCA (Category 9) crypto-asset services. The instrument defines a qualifying course for this purpose as one that meets the criteria set out in the ESMA MiCA Guidelines, so the competency bar for staff advising on or dealing in crypto-asset services is now set by direct reference to the European Securities and Markets Authority's own knowledge-and-competence standard rather than a freestanding domestic test. This commencement follows directly from a Central Bank impact analysis published on 31 May 2026, in which the Bank set out a proposal to recognise MiCA knowledge and competence requirements within the Minimum Competency Regulations. That proposal has now been given binding effect: firms providing MiCA services in Ireland are brought within the same minimum-competency supervisory architecture that already governs other regulated financial services, rather than being left in a conduct gap specific to crypto-asset activity. #### Outlook Firms with personnel advising on or dealing in MiCA services in Ireland need those staff to hold, or be working toward, a qualification meeting the ESMA MiCA knowledge-and-competence Guidelines from 28 July 2026 onward. Because the standard is defined by reference to an external ESMA benchmark rather than a static domestic list, firms will need to track ESMA's own Guidelines for any future revision of what counts as a qualifying course. Periodic update · new data 2026-09-14 #### Conduct, Safeguarding & Financial Promotions Safeguarding of customer funds is the Central Bank of Ireland's highest 2026 supervisory priority for payment and e-money institutions, a Probable-confidence finding carrying high impact this cycle. The CBI has created a new Head of Safeguarding pre-approval controlled function (PCF), signalling that safeguarding governance now sits at a named, individually-accountable senior-management level within licensed non-bank payment firms, rather than being treated as a diffuse operational responsibility. Alongside this, the CBI is pursuing enhanced AML/CFT regulatory-expectations-questionnaire submissions from licensed firms, tightening the conduct and information-gathering relationship between supervisor and licensee. This conduct tightening arrives directly ahead of the PSD3/PSR framework, whose final legislative texts, published April 2026, themselves tighten safeguarding requirements at the EU level. The combination of the CBI's own 2026 domestic supervisory priority and the incoming EU-level safeguarding tightening under PSD3/PSR means Irish-authorised non-bank PIs and EMIs face a converging set of pressures on how customer funds are segregated and protected, from both the national supervisor and the EU legislative framework simultaneously. #### Outlook Watch for the CBI's practical implementation of the Head of Safeguarding PCF role, including the pace of individual pre-approvals across licensed firms, and for how the domestic safeguarding priority interacts with PSD3/PSR's own safeguarding provisions once transposition detail becomes available. Periodic update · new data 2026-09-05 #### Conduct, Safeguarding & Financial Promotions Central Bank of Ireland-authorised payment institutions are now expected to act honestly, fairly and professionally under the Consumer Protection Code 2025 framework, a confirmed, primary-source conduct-of-business rulebook that governs how authorised firms deal with customers. This sits alongside the Standards for Business Regulations 2025, and together the two instruments constitute the live conduct-of-business layer for Irish payment institutions independent of the PSD3 licensing transition tracked under W1a. On the cost side of conduct regulation, the Central Bank of Ireland's annual Industry Funding levy is confirmed at a minimum of €5,300 for the 2025/2026 levy year, plus a variable component tied to transaction value. This is a direct, quantified cost-to-operate signal for authorised payment institutions and e-money institutions, distinguishing the nonbank PI/EMI cost base — which bears this levy directly — from bank-supervised payment activity, which is assessed under separate prudential levy arrangements. The variable component means the practical cost impact will differ materially between low-volume and high-volume payment institutions even though the minimum floor is common to all authorised nonbank firms. #### Outlook Watch for the Central Bank of Ireland's confirmation of the 2026/2027 levy year parameters and for any conduct-rulebook amendments accompanying the PSD3 transposition process, since conduct and safeguarding requirements typically get updated in tandem with licensing-framework transitions of this kind. Periodic update · new data 2026-07-10 #### Conduct, Safeguarding & Financial Promotions Ireland's conduct-of-business layer for payment institutions has been reinforced this cycle. The new Consumer Protection Code 2025 now applies to authorised payment institutions, importing a conduct standard that requires honesty, fairness and professionalism in dealings with customers — a Consumer-Duty-style obligation layered onto the existing payment institution authorisation regime rather than a bank-specific rule, meaning it reaches non-bank payment and e-money firms directly. This sits alongside, but is analytically distinct from, the prudential and licensing track covered under W1a: the Consumer Protection Code operates as an ongoing conduct standard rather than a one-off authorisation gate. Settlement-finality and safeguarded-funds-insolvency plumbing — the legal-infrastructure question of how client funds and payment finality are treated if a payment institution or e-money institution fails — was not evidenced by a dedicated Irish development this cycle, despite its structural importance to the coming PSD3/PSR transposition. This remains a standing coverage gap rather than a confirmed null result and is flagged for targeted sourcing in a subsequent cycle, particularly as PSD3/PSR's mandatory safeguarding-diversification requirement (tracked under W1a) will have direct insolvency-remoteness implications for non-bank PI/EMI safeguarding arrangements. #### Outlook Expect the Consumer Protection Code's application to payment institutions to be tested in practice as firms adjust conduct and disclosure processes; the more consequential unresolved question is how Ireland's safeguarding and settlement-finality plumbing will be reshaped once PSD3/PSR's diversification and insolvency-related provisions are transposed, an area this cycle's sourcing did not reach. **Sources and findings (4)** 1. T1 Central Bank of Ireland — Consumer Protection Code (revised 24 Mar 2025, eff. 24 Mar 2026) (centralbank.ie) 2. T1 Central Bank of Ireland — revised Consumer Protection Code 2026 (centralbank.ie) 3. T3 [https://www.williamfry.com/knowledge/the-consumer-protection-code-is-modernised/ [CAVEAT: Tier 3 secondary source — Assessed; verify vs primary pre-publication]](https://www.williamfry.com/knowledge/the-consumer-protection-code-is-modernised/ [CAVEAT: Tier 3 secondary source — Assessed; verify vs primary pre-publication]) 4. T1 [https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2025/si/81/made/en/print](https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2025/si/81/made/en/print) retrieved 2026-06-24