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Innovation is anchored by the CBI Innovation Sandbox (second cohort 'Innovation in Payments' opened 23 September 2025, applications to 10 November 2025, programme running from January 2026) and the EU open-banking/PSD2 build-out (with PSD3/PSR in train). The Eurosystem digital euro project moved to its next phase in October 2025, with a possible pilot from 2027 and first issuance potentially 2029; the CBI participates as part of the Eurosystem. Real-time rails (SCT Inst mandatory) and account-to-account 'pay-by-account' solutions (per the National Payments Strategy) are the principal product-development vectors.
The most consequential long-run product-access development is the digital euro. The digital euro project moved to its next phase on 30 October 2025, following an ECB Governing Council decision, with a possible pilot exercise from 2027 and possible first issuance in 2029, assuming co-legislators adopt the digital euro Regulation; the CBI participates as part of the Eurosystem. Digital euro progression carries long-run distribution and intermediation implications for Irish PSPs and banks, even though issuance remains several years out and contingent on the legislative process.
Outlook
The product-innovation trajectory is established and engaged. The Innovation-in-Payments sandbox running from January 2026 provides an active channel for supervisory engagement with new payment products. The digital euro is the dominant horizon item, with its phased path — possible pilot from 2027 and possible first issuance in 2029 — making it a long-run strategic variable for Irish PSPs rather than a near-term operational change. Firms should track the co-legislative process on the digital euro Regulation as the gating factor for that timeline.
Product Innovation & Market Development
Confirmo Limited received Payment Institution authorisation from the Central Bank of Ireland in April 2026, adding to the MiCA Crypto-Asset Service Provider authorisation it obtained in December 2025, and the combined authorisation now allows Confirmo to passport both licences across the EEA from its Irish base. This is probable-confidence intelligence sourced from a single trade-press outlet rather than primary regulator confirmation, though the underlying authorisation events themselves are consistent with confirmed Central Bank of Ireland supervisory activity in the payment-institution space more broadly.
This dual-authorisation pattern is analytically significant as a product-innovation signal distinct from the stablecoin-regime detail owned by the crypto monitor: it demonstrates that a single Irish-authorised entity can now combine a payments licence with a digital-asset licence under one roof, positioning Ireland as a jurisdiction where regulated stablecoin-adjacent payment products can be built without needing separate authorisations in separate Member States. The timing — Confirmo's Payment Institution authorisation landing shortly after Ireland's own shortened MiCA grandfathering transition closed — suggests the combination may become a template other Irish-domiciled digital-asset firms look to replicate.
Outlook
Watch for additional dual-authorisation events of this kind among Irish-domiciled CASPs as the MiCA transitional period fully closes across the EU, and for whether Confirmo's stablecoin-payment product offering scales following its combined licensing base.
1 earlier distinct update(s)
Product Innovation & Market Development
Verification of Payee — IBAN-name matching checks — has been mandatory for SEPA Instant Credit Transfers since 9 October 2025 under the EU Instant Payments Regulation. This anti-fraud control is expected to extend across all SEPA payment rails once PSD3/PSR-driven changes take effect before 2027, broadening the check beyond instant transfers to the wider SEPA credit-transfer base.
Outlook
Watch for confirmation of the timetable extending Verification of Payee beyond instant transfers to standard SEPA credit transfers as PSD3/PSR implementation proceeds.
Sources and findings (4)
- T3https://www.mondaq.com/ireland/financial-services/1684250/central-bank-payments-innovation-sandbox-programme-a-call-for-applicantsretrieved
- T1https://www.centralbank.ie/news/article/press-release-eurosystem-moving-to-next-phase-of-digital-euro-project-30-oct-2025retrieved
- T1https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2025/html/ecb.sp251219~fd2fee081a.en.htmlretrieved
- T3https://www.williamfry.com/knowledge/national-payments-strategy-launched-by-the-minister-for-finance/retrieved