Welcome Decta Limited to the regulated fintech ecosytem in Ireland!  Its authorisation brings the pool of regulated fintech in Ireland to 68, comprised of:

• 27 authorised electronic money institutions
• 21 payments institutions,
• 4 standalone open banking firms
• 11 virtual asset services providers and
• 5 crowdfunding services providers. 

Decta Limited's authorisation is the 2nd emoney institution to be authorised so far this year. The most recent payments company authorised was Etsy Ireland Limited and previous to that it was emoney firm Navro Payments Europe Limited.

As we said back on 20 February 2024, we are pretty sure that these numbers will continue to grow in 2024.

In what must have felt as extended St Patrick Day's long weekend for the Irish Decta Team, the company was authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland on Tuesday 19 March 2024 as an emoney institution. 

Decta Limited has been authorised to provide emoney services and payment services #3 (Execution of credit transfers, including standing orders) and #5 (Issuing of payment instruments and/or acquiring of payment transactions). 

Some observations:

• ​Why did Decta seek an authorisation in Ireland when another Decta Limited became authorised in Cyprus for emoney services on 10 August 2023?
• The Irish company was incorporated back on 1 October 2021.  That seems a long time from its incorporation date to today for an entity to become authorised - nearly 30 months. While a firm may not start an application immediately after it is incorporated, most firms - where they are the subsidiaries of foreign firms - start the journey no later than three to six months following incorporation.  If one was conservative and went with the six month timeline, it may have taken Decta Limited 24 months to become authorised.    
• It appointed its first set of Irish resident NEDs on 1 June 2022, with one of them leaving just after Christmas Day 2023 following the appointment of another NED just before that Christmas period.
• In addition to the NEDs, the company's local CEO sits on its board together with two group executives including its Cypriot authorised company's CEO and its Deputy CEO. 
• The Irish comapny's shareholders are RRE Tradecenters Holding Limited based in Cyprus and SIA "Suharenko Family Investments" based in Latvia, holding 67% and 33% of the Irish company respectively.   
• SIA "Suharenko Family Investments" is a shareholder in the Latvia Bank, AS “Rietumu Banka”.  
• Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond owns a one-third stake in Rietumu Banka.  Its group profits fell 37pc to €11.4m in the first nine months of 2023.
• Decta's operations in the UK, Decta Limited (UK), are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority for emoney and payment services. 
• Decta was cited by Transparency International UK in a report focused upon financial crime risk.  The very informative report titled 'Together in Electric Schemes, Analysing Money Laundering Risk in E-Payments' was issued in December 2021.  The Bank was hit by two regulatory sanctions.  The largest sanction was a fine of €80mn later reduced by a French appeals court to €20mn.  According to The Baltics Times on 24 April 2023 "The Supreme Court in Paris concluded that the money laundering would not have been possible without Rietumu Banka. The case materials showed evidence of at least EUR 200 million laundered through the bank."  

• According to CRO records for Decta Limited as at year end December 2022 the company incurred a loss of €114.1K, had Net Current Assets of €46.9K and Net Liabilities of €110.6K.

​The Decta brand was called out by Transparency International UK in a report focused upon financial crime risk.  The very informative report titled 'Together in Electric Schemes, Analysing Money Laundering Risk in E-Payments' and issued in December 2021 carried a case study in which it noted that:

"[s]ome Latvian banks now own UK EMIs. Decta Limited, a UK EMI, lists its PSC as Rietumu Holding, the firm behind Rietumu Bank in Latvia.  In 2017, Rietumu was fined €80 million by French authorities after it was found to be involved in major tax and money laundering schemes. In response to an investigation by independent global media organisation, openDemocracy, Decta Limited stated it “acts in strict accordance with the requirements of FCA”, adding “we regularly pass anti-money-laundering (AML), Anti-Fraud, Know Your Customer and Combating the Financing of Terrorism audits held by Visa, Mastercard and big-four auditors, proving Decta to be complying with all latest AML standards.” 

In June 2021, Rietumu was fined again for money laundering failings in Latvia, this time in relation to its association with payment service providers, including those based outside of the country. A page on the website of Latvia’s central bank (Latvijas Banka), shows Rietumu has correspondent banking relationships with at least six UK EMIs.

It is becoming increasingly clear that British EMIs using Baltic banks for clearing services raises money laundering risk for both the UK and Baltic states. UK EMIs with unsuitable owners or weak AML controls are unlikely to carry out sufficient checks on their clients, while Baltic banks may believe firms regulated by the FCA have higher AML standards than they do in reality. This situation would lead to international payments being made from British EMI accounts using Baltic correspondent banks without sufficient checks being carried out on who was making them. This is similar to the scenario that occurred in the “Laundromats” exposed by the OCCRP, which resulted in billions of pounds in suspicious transactions being sent around the world." (see page 15 of this document).

Read more media here:

19/04/2022 - Last year also saw an appeals court in Paris reduce to €20 million a previous €80 million fine levied by a French court in 2017 against the bank for allegedly enabling clients of a company called France Offshore to evade taxes and launder money through companies in tax havens.

24/04/2023 - Verdict of French court on fine on Rietumu Banka for money laundering takes force

• decision on EUR 20 million fine for money laundering has come into force

17/06/2021 - Latvian bank Rietumu fined 5.85 mln for money laundering failures 

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

During the back half of May, Ireland was in the CFT/AML limelight with ACAMS Europe* and the European Anti-Financial Crime Summit both held in Dublin. This gave Ireland the opportunity to showcase the huge strides the nation is trying to make to combat financial crime. The key theme that I personally did not see come out as much as I’d like is the collaboration between Banks and FinTechs with Regulators and Enforcement agencies. 

There were great keynotes from the likes of Seana Cunningham, Central Bank of Ireland’s Director of Enforcement and Anti-Money Laundering, who clearly illustrated the critical value in recognising shared goals and valuing collective effort; raising awareness and being vigilant; and understanding the changing risks. Additionally, given the much-anticipated launch of the EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority, irrespective of where they land the HQ*, clearly shows the global movement to more collaboration across states to fight financial crime. 

So, why not act locally within Ireland and drive more collaboration within the State as well?

Globally we are seeing some states like Hong Kong, UAE and the UK all announcing banks, enforcement and regulators combining forces to have a more collaborative approach to the joint battle. Ireland only having three (3) banks would suggest that more collaboration across these banks is a logical approach. While we can appreciate the restrictions of ‘over sharing’ due to GDPR restrictions, there must be an argument for sharing intelligence of high-risk economic crime activity across our society’s first line of defence in protecting the integrity of our financial system.

​The benefits of this collaborative approach to protect the risk of suspicious activity surely outweighs the paranoia.
​
But what about the FinTechs in Ireland? 

​Ireland is well positioned as a breeding ground for FinTech’s and Payment Companies in Europe. In a recent piece written by IDA’s Chloe Wade, Ireland is continuing to scale and grow and there is a visible presence of sub-sectoral growth in Ireland in areas like digital payments, cross-border payments, payment gateways, digital banking, digital remittances, open banking, regtech, blockchain, and digital assets.

​International companies such as R3, Remitly, S&P Global, Revolut, MoneyCorp, and Boku have made Ireland the hub of their operations. These institutions are growingly coming under the watchful eyes of regulators due to the growth in bad actors using FinTechs and Payment Companies to channel illicit funds into the financial system. These companies should definitely have a more active role in the battle to combat financial crime activity. 

How can the Banking and Payments Federation (BPFI) do more?

While BPFI have been instrumental in driving more collaboration, there are limitations given not all Banks and FinTech’s are actively involved in this joint effort. But it doesn’t stop there. In a recent article posted by Pearse Doherty, Deputy Leader (Dáil), Spokesperson on Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Pearse calls for more accountability for telecommunications and internet service providers and even social media. Usually when fraudulent activity occurs through these channels, the customer is already exposed, and the damage is done. This clearly shows that there is a need in Ireland for the wider cross-checking of account information which has proved to be successful in the Netherlands and Britain.

Conclusion

Ireland has become a global hub for FinTechs and Payment Companies alike and while this is fantastic for FDI and overall economic growth of the nation, there is more responsibility that these high-growth institutions should adopt in protecting the integrity of the financial services system. The  banks in Ireland, coupled with the FinTechs and Payment Companies, Regulators and Enforcement, can and will position Ireland as one of the safest countries to conduct transactions. Thus, setting the stage for further growth in a socially responsible and compliant manner.

The contents of this article are those of the author, Amardeep (Deep) Hansra, Global FinTech and RegTech professional.  Deep is on the Fintech Ireland Advisory Council.
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​* Further Reading:

• Fintech Ireland’s Founder Peter Oakes was a member of a cryptoasset panel at ACAMS Europe and also joined the ACAMS Great Crypto Debate on: The Future of Finance or Unleashing Havoc.
• Fintech Ireland supports MoneyLaundering.ie which collates and publishes useful financial crime typologies  
• Minister McGrath announces intention for Ireland to seek to host EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority
• Previous guest blog – Ireland’s VASPs holding their own against the UK? The Virtual Asset Service Providers Landscape in Ireland (co-authored by Susan O’Neill of SuLu Solutions and Peter Oakes of Fintech Ireland)

An MEP representing Ireland in the European Parliament, Mairead McGuinness, has been appointed as EU Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and the Capital Markets Union – which includes spearheading Europe’s new AML drive.

Ms McGuinness was appointed to the influential role following the resignation of Phil Hogan (a previous nominee of the Irish government) who served as Commissioner for trade.  Mr Hogan resigned his Commissioner role following a scandal involving an Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) Golf Society event at which a number of other people attended - including senior members of financial services and banking representatives - alleged to be in breach of Ireland's coronavirus guidelines last month.

When all is said and done, has to be viewed that Ireland, particularly its ever-growing fintech & financial services industry, should be very happy with Mairead McGuinness -  a current First Vice President of the European Parliament - being appointed as European Commission's new Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services & Capital Markets Union.  Her new role will encompass banking, insurance, fintech  (payments & emoney), insurtech and financial crime including anti-money laundering.

It is important to bear in mind that Ms McGuiness is not appointed to fly the green flag nor wear the green jersey for Ireland.  Just as Mr Hogan was 'not Ireland's man in Brussels' which so many people who should know better said when his role at the EC was being questioned.  The role of an European Commissioner is to serve Europe first, not do deals to put Ireland's (or any Member State's) interest above the EU.  If that happens with respect to any such appointment, then there is at least one word to describe that - "corruption".  See further reading below.

Announcing Ms McGuinness' appointment Ursula Von der Leyen, European Commission President, described McGuinness as having “significant political experience on EU issues” as an MEP since 2004. She added that her previous experience was “crucial in carrying forward the EU’s financial policy agenda” and “ensuring it supports and strengthens the Commission’s key priority”.

McGuinness will oversee the upcoming sixth money laundering directive, which is due to be implemented by December 2020.  Which is rather interesting since Ireland was fined €2 million by Europe's highest court on foot of a complaint from the European Commission for Ireland's failure to implement the 5th AML Directive on time.  Goes to show that when it comes to Ireland, the European Commission acts in a very independent manner! In fairness, important to add that Ireland was not the only naughty school child - Romania was fined €3m for the same breach.

Some other observations, #1 and 2 captured above:

1. Ms McGuiness is not appointed to fly the green flag nor wear the green jersey for Ireland.
2. Ms McGuiness is to oversee the upcoming 6th AMLD due to be implemented by December 2020. Interesting since Ireland was fined €2 million for failure to implement 5th AML Directive on time.
3. Ms McGuiness's Director-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union is an equally capable person, who also happens to be Irish: the Director-General John Berrigan (see org chart below).
4. Another Irish person with a senior influential role in Europe is Ireland's Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, elected head of eurozone finance ministers back in July https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0709/1152184-eurogroup-president-election/.  What is it with Irish professionals and EU finance and financial services?

Further reading:

"When Ursula Von der Leyen makes her selection, von der Leyen should ignore lobbying for specific posts from Dublin and every other member state and political grouping. It’s her right to assign portfolios as she sees fit, based on her assessment of the skills and experience of her commissioners and the overall composition she believes she needs to implement her agenda. The challenges facing the European Union, and the European Commission as its policy engine-room, are far too great to allow the effectiveness of the institutions to be compromised by the states’ all-too-narrow conception of their own influence."  Irish Times 7 September 2020. 

CompliReg, supporters of the Fintech Ireland Map, have written a short blog on the announcement (10th August 2020) that the Irish Government Cabinet has approved the publication of new draft rules which, if passed by both houses of Ireland's parliament, will strengthen existing Irish money laundering and terrorist financing laws to bring Ireland further into compliance with the 5th AML/CTF Directive.

Readers may recall that in July 2020, together with Romania, Ireland was fined €2 million for its delay in implementing the necessary legal changes to give effect to the 5th AML/CTF Directive.

This blog is particularly relevant for regulated #Fintech firms, such as payment services and emoney firms, and the soon to be captured cryptoasset / cryptocurrency / cryptoexchange / cryptowallet providers operating from Ireland.

More here - ​https://complireg.com/blogs--insights/new-irish-anti-money-laundering-rules-approved-by-government