IRELAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Niall Esler, Shane Martin, Laura Whitson and Coleen Wegmann, Walkers
for their execution on a particular execution venue, or for forwarding orders of those clients to any third party for their execution on a particular execution venue. Under MiCAR, CASPs receiving and transmitting orders for crypto-assets on behalf of clients are pro - hibited from receiving any remuneration, discount or non-monetary benefit in return for routing orders received from clients to a particular trading platform or to another CASP. 6.8 Market Integrity Principles In addition to domestic requirements, Ireland has implemented EU securities markets legislation, some of which is directly applicable. This legislation includes: • the Prospectus Regulation; • the Market Abuse Regulation (Regulation (EU) 596/2014 – MAR); • the Securities Financing Transaction Regulation; • Regulation 648/2012 on OTC Derivatives, Central Counterparties and Trade Repositories (EMIR); and • MiFID II. • the Transparency Directive; • the Short Selling Regulation; The MAR establishes a common EU regulatory frame - work on insider dealing, the unlawful disclosure of inside information and market manipulation (“market abuse”), and measures to prevent market abuse. Market manipulation, as defined under the European Union (Market Abuse) Regulations 2016, is an offence in Ireland. MiCAR introduces provisions to prevent and prohibit market abuse involving certain crypto-assets, as well as white paper requirements for crypto-asset issuances. 7. High-Frequency and Algorithmic Trading 7.1 Creation and Usage Regulations The primary method of regulating these technologies is under the MiFID Regulations. The definition of algo - rithmic trading contained in the MiFID Regulations is limited to trading in MiFID II financial instruments.
For asset classes outside the scope of regulation under the MiFID Regulations, it would be important to consult the requirements applicable to the particu - lar asset class.
7.2 Requirement To Be Licensed or Registered as a Market Maker When Functioning in a Principal Capacity
Market makers in financial instruments will generally require authorisation under MiFID and must comply with specific rules if engaging in algorithmic trading to pursue a market-making strategy. 7.3 Regulatory Distinction Between Funds and Dealers No information is available in this jurisdiction. 7.4 Regulation of Programmers and Programming If programs or programmers are carrying out regulated activities, the applicable regulations will be relevant, but this will need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis. The AI Act will apply to providers who place AI systems on the market or put them into service in the EU, and to users of AI systems located or with estab - lishments within the EU. Only authorised insurance companies are permitted to underwrite insurance contracts in Ireland. Some insurtech companies are authorised as insurance companies, while others act as insurance intermedi - aries and require authorisation for that activity. 8.2 Treatment of Different Types of Insurance An insurance company must be authorised as a life insurer or a non-life insurer but not both (with limited exceptions). Life and non-life insurers are subject to different requirements. 8. Insurtech 8.1 Underwriting Processes Specific requirements in relation to motor insurance are set out in the European Union (Motor Insurance) Regulations 2023 due to the requirement for mini - mum compulsory cover for third-party motor insur - ance. There are a limited number of other kinds of
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