Back to regulators

Ireland · EU member

Central Bank of Ireland

CBI · Central bankActive

74Activity Indexmethodology →

Employees

~2,200

2024

Annual budget

€340M

2024 (supervisory arm)

Supervised entities

~10,600

2024 (incl. investment funds)

Overview

The Central Bank of Ireland is one of a few European regulators that publish a full authorisation ledger — applications received, withdrawn, approved and average processing days, for every sector, every year. Its 2025 edition shows both faces of Dublin: fund authorisations up 40% with every service standard met, while payment and e-money applicants waited an average of 763 days. In MiCAR's first year it authorised ten crypto-asset service providers in an average of 171 days — and licensed the first new Irish bank since 2019. Everything below is the Central Bank's own data, from its Authorisations and Gatekeeping Report 2025.

Regulated sectors

BanksPayment institutionsE-money institutionsCrypto-asset service providersInvestment firmsAsset managersInsurance companiesCredit institutions

Leadership

  • Gabriel MakhloufGovernor · since 2019
  • Mary-Elizabeth McMunnDeputy Governor, Financial Regulation · since 2025

Full board →

Figures as published by Central Bank of Ireland for FY2025. Source: Authorisations and Gatekeeping Report 2025 (3rd edition, June 2026). Data as of 31 December 2025. Supplementary: Annual Report 2025.

Authorisations 2025

Applications received, withdrawn, approved, and the average number of calendar days to decision.

ItemReceivedWithdrawnApprovedAvg days
Investment funds (products)
934
97
975
91
Retail intermediaries / debt mgmt
186
67
149
105
Payment & e-money institutions
9
2
4
763
Crypto-asset service providers (MiCAR)
11
0
10
171
MiFID investment firms
9
6
6
245
Insurance
8
1
8
21
Fund service providers
11
2
7
254
Credit institutions
3
0
1
355
Trust or company service providers
5
0
5
55
Retail credit / credit servicing
1
2
7
76
Prospectus approvals
658
9
649
15
MiCAR Title II whitepaper notifications
305
0
305
5
Fitness & Probity (all PCF applications)
3,032
418
2,684
50

Processing-time trend

Average calendar days to decision, three-year view.

Item202320242025
Investment funds
98
88
91
Retail intermediaries
169
119
105
MiFID investment firms
327
256
245
Payment & e-money institutions
614
688
763
Crypto-asset service providers
171
Insurance
31
21
21

Notable 2025

ItemValue
Fund authorisations
654 UCITS, 26 RIAIFs and 6 retail ELTIFs authorised — 40% above 2024; QIAIFs up 32% at 281
MiCAR year one
Ten CASPs authorised, eight of them former VASP registrants; a streamlined payment-institution process reuses CASP application material under the EBA's MiCAR/PSD2 No Action Letter
First Irish-domiciled credit institution since 2019
Authorised in 355 days
PI/EMI sector at year-end
58 authorised firms holding ~€11.8bn in safeguarded funds; 13 firms in the pre-application pipeline, up from six
New Gatekeeping Decisions Committee
Decided its first three cases: two authorisation refusals and one involuntary revocation, with no appeals
Fitness & Probity
97% of assessments completed within 90 days; first-ever PCF refusal; interviews halved to 26 as the post-Enria single-interview model bedded in

Key legislation

  • Central Bank Act 1942 (as amended)

    Foundational Act

  • European Union (Payment Services) Regulations 2018

    PSD2 transposition

  • European Union (Markets in Crypto-Assets) Regulations 2024

    MiCA implementation

Public registers

Application portals

Recent publications

Data as of 31 December 2025 · Source: www.centralbank.ie (authority website) + ComplyBridge researchActivity Index methodology →

Ready to Transform Your Compliance?

Measure the Impact from Day One

Talk to Sales