National Competent Authority

The Central Bank has been designated as one of the National Competent Authorities (NCAs) responsible for carrying out functions and duties to monitor compliance with Regulations, as outlined in the next section.

What regulations and directives do we supervise?

The primary purpose of the CSDR is to increase the safety and efficiency of securities settlement and the settlement infrastructures in the EU.
The CSDR harmonises the different CSD rules in the EU and establishes an enhanced level playing field among CSDs.
The Central Bank has been designated as the NCA responsible for carrying out the duties under CSDR for the authorisation and supervision of CSDs established in the State.
Currently the Irish market utilises settlement systems located in a number of different European countries.
Trades in Irish government bonds and Irish corporate securities and some exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are generally settled in Euroclear Bank, located in Belgium.
The remaining Irish ETFs are settled in other European CSDs.

The IFR introduced a cap on interchange fees for both consumer credit and debit card transactions, and also imposed a number of business rules mainly related to payment card schemes, issuing and acquiring payment service providers (PSPs).
Under the Irish Interchange Fee Regulations, PSPs are prohibited from offering or requesting an interchange fee of more than the equivalent of 0.10% of the value of individual domestic debit card transactions, and of more than the equivalent of 0.30% of the value of the individual credit card transaction. These caps do not apply to commercial cards.
Both the Central Bank and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) have been designated as the NCAs for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the Irish Interchange Fee Regulations.
Irish card payments are facilitated by international card payment schemes.
The Central Bank seeks information on an annual basis from international card schemes operating in Ireland to ensure that they are operating in compliance with the Irish Interchange Fee Regulations.

The primary purpose of the SFD is to reduce systemic and legal settlement risks in payment and securities settlement systems in the EU.
It ensures that a transfer order that is entered into a designated system is finally settled, regardless of whether the sending participant subsequently becomes insolvent, and regardless of whether the transfer order is revoked.
The Central Bank is responsible for notification requirements arising from certain insolvency proceedings under Irish law.
The Central Bank is also responsible for ensuring that protections provided under the EU Settlement Finality Directive and the European Communities (Settlement Finality) Regulations 2010 continue to apply to Irish market participants in UK based settlement systems.

One of the main objectives of the SEPA Regulation is to harmonise euro credit transfer and direct debit payments across the European Union (EU).
Under the SEPA Regulation, it is illegal to discriminate between domestic International Bank Account Numbers (IBANs) and IBANs in any other EU Member State when making or receiving payments.
For example, an Irish company initiating a SEPA direct debit payment cannot insist that the payer open or maintain an Irish bank account for this purpose. This practice is commonly known as ‘IBAN Discrimination'.
The Central Bank and the CCPC have been designated as the NCAs for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the SEPA Regulation.
The CCPC is responsible for addressing issues of non-compliance with the SEPA Regulation in cases involving consumers and traders (for example, utility or telecommunications providers).
The Central Bank is responsible for all other cases of IBAN Discrimination
Further information on IBAN Discrimination (including the complaints process) can be found on the Explainer: What is 'IBAN Discrimination' and what can I do about it?.

You can contact us on these matters at [email protected] and [email protected].