Fintech 2025

IRELAND Trends and Developments Contributed by: Christopher Martin, Derek Hegarty and Nicola Munnelly, KPMG Law

• providing advice; • providing portfolio management; and • providing transfer services.

MiCAR ultimately represents a sea-change in the nature and extent of regulation of crypto-assets and associated services. For both new and exist - ing CASPs there will be significant work required to obtain authorisation and to align existing entities’ process, procedures, governance and controls with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, not only under MiCAR, but also under the broader universe of financial regulation (eg, DORA, Consumer Protection Code, Fitness and Probity). In Ireland, this will need to be com - pleted before the end of 2025 in order for those firms to continue providing services (other Mem - ber States have implemented shorter or longer transitional periods under MiCAR of between six and 18 months). SEPA instant payments The Instant Payments Regulation (Regula - tion (EU)2024/886), which amends the SEPA Regulation (Regulation 260/2012/EU), is a very significant step in modernising the EU fintech landscape, driven by consumer demand and an increasingly digitised economy. The instant pay - ments scheme was initially launched in 2017 as an optional SEPA scheme. However, due to vary - ing uptake (Ireland being at the lower end with only 5% coverage at the time), it was decided that the scheme should become mandatory in the form of a Regulation. The Instant Payments Regulation therefore aims to enhance the speed and efficiency of transac - tions between participating financial institutions, allowing for credit transfers to be completed in less than ten seconds and 24 hours a day, and seven days a week, and will mark a very sig - nificant change in how payments are processed and provided in the Irish market. While the speed and efficiency of transfers will be improved, the Instant Payments Regulation

These permissions broadly mirror those in rela - tion to financial instruments under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), with some additions / modifications. The provision of transfer services in respect of EMTs will however require authorisation as a payment institution, or e-money institution, as EMTs are deemed e-money. New and existing CASPs will now need to obtain authorisation in Ireland from the Central Bank. For existing virtual asset service provid - ers (VASPs), who were previously registered for the purposes of AML/CFT supervision, there is a 12 month transitional period, during which they will need to obtain authorisation as a CASP to continue providing services. The key stages of the Central Bank CASP application process are: • an initial engagement stage; • submission of the key facts document (KFD); • formal applications submission stage; In practice, there will be significant engagement with the Central Bank prior to the submission of the formal application. Once the formal appli - cation is submitted, the Central Bank will have three months (excluding pauses for responses to questions) to make a decision on the appli - cation. Once authorised, CASPs will be able to provide crypto-asset services on a passported basis across the EU/EEA in a similar matter to other EU-regulated financial institutions. • potential refusal review; • assessment stage; and • decision.

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