Seems there is no slow down in Irish fintech in the dying days of 2023.

• Ireland is now home to 65 regulated fintech entities and is continuing to be described in glowing terms by applicants.
• There is a payments entity up for sale (if interested contact me - as I am in discussions with the owner - email officeATcompliregDOTcom).
• In the past 5 working days I have had discussions with 5 overseas groups looking to commence preparations for filing applications with the Central Bank of Ireland in the first part of 2024.

Linkedin blog at https://www.linkedin.com/posts/peteroakes_irishfintech-fintech-electronicmoney-activity-7143319059621638145-0HM_

Now I might be tempting fate here; meaning that Fintech Ireland and MiCA Ready may have to issue a further updated Regulated Fintech Map later this week given that several fintech have been notified that they are close to authorisation.


In any event, for today as of close of business Wednesday 20 December 2023, based on the Central Bank of Ireland's publicly available registers, the 65 regulated #fintech entities appearing on the Map are split - 25 x #ElectronicMoney; 21 x #Payments Institutions; 4 x Standalone Open Banking (AISP); 11 x #VirtualAssets and 4 x #Crowdfunding Services Providers.


This follows recent activity including Ripple's registration in Ireland as a Virtual Asset Services Provider and Linked Finance's authorisation as a Crowdfunding Services Provider yesterday (19 December 2023).


In summary:

• Ripple Markets Ireland Limited's can now provide the following services: (i) Provision of exchange services between virtual assets and fiat currencies; (ii) Exchange between one or more forms of virtual assets; (iii) Transfer (to conduct a transaction on behalf of another natural or legal person that moves a virtual asset from one virtual asset address or account to another) of virtual assets; and (iv) Custodian wallet providers. Congratulations Mark Doggett, Brian Spahn and Team.

 

• Linked P2P Limited (trading as Linked Finance) is now authorised for the facilitation of granting of loans. Congratulations ✅ Peter O'Mahony Niall Dorrian (ACMA) Niall O'Grady and Team.

​Yet again the Central Bank and Ireland are referenced by a newly regulated firm in a very positive manner, with Eric van Miltenburg, Ripple’s senior vice president for strategic initiatives saying “By providing regulatory clarity for the industry, Ireland — and the EU more broadly — are boosting confidence in the digital assets, payments and fintech ecosystem,”. Add that to the list of positive testimonials by the following recently authorised firms in their press releases: Payoma, Seedrs Europe Limited, NoFrixion and Freemarket.


Who is new to the Map? In addition to Ripple and Linked Finance, we have added PaymentSense Ireland / Dojo which achieved emoney authorisation in Ireland on 22 November 2023 to provide, in addition to emoney services, payment services 3b, 3c, 5. Congratulations Agata Strozynska. Máire Duffy Donal Collins, Jean ODonovan and Team.

​If you need assistance with an emoney or payments authorisation or an account information service provider registration application, check out Fintech Ireland and CompliReg's handy authorisation guides at https://fintechireland.com/fintech-authorisations.html.

As of 3 August 2023 we have produced an updated Map of authorised electronic money institutions, authorised payment institutions and registered account information services providers.

New to this Map are:

• Paysend EU DAC - authorised on 20 December 2022 to provide electronic money and payment services 3a, 3b, 3c, 5, 6, 7, 8
• InterPay Limited t/a TransferMate - a change of authorisation on 25 April 2023 to electronic money institution (from a payments institution authorisation held since 2011) and payment services 3b, 3c, 5, 6 
• NoFrixion Limited - authorised on 25 July 2023 to provide electronic money and payment services 3a, 3b, 3c, 5, 7, 8.  NoFrixion was registered as a Virtual Asset Services Provider on 31 May 2023.

Thus far in the first seven months of 2023, only two firms have been authorised as either an electronic money institutions (EMI) or payments institutions (API) i.e. TransferMate and NoFrixion, and TransferMate was previously authorised as a payments institution from 2011-2023 before becoming an EMI in April 2023.  Thus effectively, NoFrixion is only new entity to become authorised in 2023.    

Back on 12 April 2023, together with Susan O’Neill of SuLu Solutions and Peter Oakes of Fintech Ireland we issued the first Registered Virtual Asset Service Providers - Ireland Map. [See April 2023 Blog here] 

We have now updated the Map to Version 2 as at Monday 17 July 2023.

Welcome NoFrixon Limited and Pionew Ireland Limited to the Map.

No Frixon was registered on 31 May 2023 and Pionew Ireland followed on 11 July 2023.  Both firms are registered to 

• (i) provision of exchange services between virtual assets and fiat currencies
• (ii)  exchange between one or more forms of virtual assets; and  
• (iii) transfer (to conduct a transaction on behalf of another natural or legal person that  moves a virtual asset from one virtual asset address or account to another) of virtual assets. 

Pionew Ireland is also registered be a (iv) Custodian wallet provider.

They join Coinbase Europe Limited, Coinbase Custody International Limited, Gemini Intergalactic Europe Limited and Zodia Custody Ireland Limited and Paysafe Payment Solutions Limited.

According to records at the Companies Registration Office,

• NoFrixion Ireland has 6 Irish resident directors (Aaron Clauson, Kathryn Hotten, Maurice Roche, Patrick Pinschmidt, Kieran Francis Mcloughlin and Feargal Brady); and
• Pionew Ireland has two USA resident directors (Robert Francis Morris and Tang Guojing) and one Irish  resident director (Anne Rothwell).

BTW, Fintech Ireland and Peter Oakes are supporting MiCA Ready which tracks materially important EU news on MiCA and Digital Assets Africa

Today (Monday 11 July 2022) the Central Bank of Ireland issued a press release highlighting weaknesses in Virtual Asset Service Providers’ (VASP) AML/CFT Frameworks.

Accompanying today's press release is a bulletin in relation to VASPs, seeking to assist applicant firms to strengthen both their applications for registration and their Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Frameworks.

The Central Bank says while it seeks to anticipate and support innovation in the financial services industry, firms operating in novel areas must ensure their businesses will not be used to launder the proceeds of crime or to finance terrorism.  The Central Bank issued the bulletin to VASPs to assist them in strengthening their applications and frameworks.

Read more here, including an analysis by CompliReg.

If you need assistance with an emoney or payments authorisation or an account information service provider registration application, check out Fintech Ireland and CompliReg's handy authorisation guides at https://fintechireland.com/fintech-authorisations.html.

On 9 June 2022 the Central Bank of Ireland registered Experian Ireland Limited as an account information services provider (AISP). Experian Ireland becomes the 5th standalone account information services provider joining Circit Limited (registered 25 February 2019), CRIF RealTime Ireland Limited (registered 30 May 2019), Verge Capital Limited (registered 9 March 2020) and LoanITT Limited (registered 5 November 2021).

Thus far in 2022, the Central Bank of Ireland has only authorised two emoney firms and registered one AISP.  So far no payment services firm has been authorised in Ireland in 2022 as we enter the second half of the year.

Experian Ireland was incorporated in Ireland since 1997. According to CRO filings, the company's turnover for the year ended March 2021 was € 3.71mn up from €5.4mn, recording a loss of €111,000 against a profit in the previous year of $1.34mn.

The register reflects that as at 30 June 2022, the doesn't presently passport services across the European Union. 

As at 30 June 2022, Ireland is now home to 19 authorised electronic money institutions, 20 authorised payment institutions and 5 standalone account information service providers. We have updated our regulated fintech Map to version 8.0 where we showcase these firms.

Our Peter Oakes spoke with Charlie Taylor of the Business Post on Sunday 3 July 2022 about the registration of Experian Ireland as an AISP:

• "The news was also welcomed by Peter Oakes, a former Central Bank enforcement director and founder of Fintech Ireland, an industry group."Irish customers will be able to share transactional information from their bank account with other banks and third parties. Customers will be able to better monitor, control and improve the way their banking data is used, including managing their so-called ‘credit score’ when looking for financing.
• “We are yet to see the fruits of open banking in Ireland to the same degree as elsewhere. Together with other fintechs providing open banking, Irish consumers and small businesses will enjoy more choice in an increasingly competitive landscape," Oakes said.

Further Reading: See also Charlie Taylor's article on the authorisation of emoney and payment services firms and the issues firms are facing getting authorised in Ireland in his article of 10 April 2022 titled Defensive attitude of Central Bank putting off fintech investors.  And see our News posts of:

• 25 April 2022 on the announcement of Bookings Holding becoming an authorised emoney firm; and 
• 10 April 2022 titled Defensive attitude of Central Bank putting off fintech investors.