Supervision Process for Money Transmission Businesses
General
The supervision process for Money Transmission businesses is designed to monitor the effectiveness of the measures adopted by such businesses to comply with the on-going requirements set out in the Authorisation Requirements and Standards document to prevent money laundering; and to combat the financing of terrorism.
Governance and Systems
Money transmission businesses must have appropriate corporate governance in place. Systems and policies must also be in place to mitigate risk and monitor compliance with their internal policies.
Fitness & Probity
A sound and effective fit and proper test is a critical component of the regulatory regime. To ensure the proper discharge of their responsibilities, it is important that Directors and Managers have the skills to manage a Money Transmission Business.
Please note that the Central Bank of Ireland's Fitness and Probity regime came into effect on 1 December 2011 and has been fully implemented since 1 December 2012. A Money Transmission Business must complete an Individual Questionnaire on receipt of log-on details to the Central Bank Online Reporting System (ONR), for each of the individuals identified as proposed holders of Pre-Approval Controlled functions. The requirements and descriptions of these functions can be found in:
Further guidance can be found on the Central Bank’s Fitness and Probity page.
Supervisory Process
Our supervisory process is carried out by way of:
- Regular correspondence and engagement with firms under our supervision
Consumer Protection
The activities of Money Transmission Businesses are monitored by means of mystery shopping exercises.
The Consumer Protection Code 2012 applies in full to Money Transmission businesses.
Approval of Charges
Under current legislation, banks, building societies, Money Transmission businesses and other entities must make a submission to the Central Bank if they wish to introduce or increase charges in respect of a service.
The Central Bank reviews these submissions and either approves the charge in full, accepts the proposal but at lower levels requested by the entity or rejects the proposal. The Central Bank assesses each submission based on the following criteria which are set down in legislation:
- the promotion of fair competition;
- the impact new charges or increases in existing charges will have on customers;
- how the Money Transmission business justifies its proposed new charges or increase in existing charges; and
- a firm passing any costs on to its customers.