E-money and payments · Central Bank of Ireland
Irish e-money and payment institution authorisation (Central Bank of Ireland)
Ireland became the default English-speaking EU base for payments firms after Brexit, and the concentration that followed is now its main advantage: banks, auditors, and compliance professionals who have done this before. It is a serious jurisdiction that has become more demanding as its population of authorised firms has grown.
The regulator
The Central Bank of Ireland is explicit that it will not authorise firms whose decision-making sits outside Ireland, and it has published its expectations on substance in unusually direct terms. It supervises intensively after authorisation, particularly on safeguarding and outsourcing.
What the licence permits
Regulated under the Central Bank of Ireland
- Issue electronic money to Irish and EEA customers
- Execute payment transactions and acquire for merchants
- Offer payment initiation and account information services
- Passport the permission across all EEA states
Who it suits
Firms that want an English-language EU base with a deep professional services market, and groups relocating a UK payments business into the bloc.
Market access
Full EEA passporting from an English-speaking common law jurisdiction inside the euro area.
What to weigh
Substance expectations are among the highest in the EU and the local salary market for qualified compliance staff reflects the competition for them. This is a committed base, not a light one.
We run the Ireland application end to end
Whether you build from new or acquire an existing licensed entity, BrokLicense handles incorporation, the regulator application, the AML and compliance framework, safeguarding and banking arrangements, and the operating stack. You stay the principal. We do the work, in confidence, and stay on for compliance once you are live.
Cost, capital, and timelines depend on your model and are set out in a first consultation, under NDA, not published here.
Other permissions in Ireland
Related reading
- EMI vs Payment Institution: Which Licence Does Your Payments Business Actually Need?An e-money licence and a payment institution licence look interchangeable and are not. One lets you hold stored value, the other only moves it. Here is the line.
- How to Get an EMI Licence: What Electronic Money Authorisation Actually InvolvesAn EMI application is a business case, not a form. Here is what regulators examine, in what order, and where applications realistically stall.
- Where to Base an EMI: Choosing a Jurisdiction for an E-Money LicenceEvery EEA e-money licence passports to the same thirty markets, so the choice is not about reach. It is about the regulator, the banking, and the substance you can staff.
- Safeguarding: The Requirement That Decides Whether Your EMI Survives SupervisionSafeguarding is the single obligation supervisors test hardest at payments firms, and the one most often got wrong. Here is what compliant actually looks like.
E-money and payments in other Europe jurisdictions
All jurisdictionsDiscuss your mandate in confidence
Every engagement begins under a mutual NDA. Set out the firm you intend to operate and the timeline you are working to, and you leave the first consultation with a recommended jurisdiction, the route to the licence, and a defined scope of work.
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