The Central Bank of Ireland has been actively advancing its regulatory landscape and fostering innovation in the financial sector. In late 2025 and early 2026, the institution unveiled key initiatives that highlight its focus on efficiency, collaboration, and new approaches to enabling frictionless payments and oversight.
These efforts reflect a broader commitment to balancing adequate safeguards with adaptability in an evolving industry.
In December 2025, the central bank released a plan to refine its regulatory and supervisory processes. Titled “Regulating & Supervising Well – A More Effective and Efficient Framework,” this multi-year strategy aims to simplify operations, enhance transparency, and better address emerging risks while upholding financial stability and consumer protections.
The roadmap builds on previous reforms, such as unified supervisory methods and strengthened entry protocols, to create a more streamlined system. Its core goals include making rules easier to navigate, ensuring they are scaled to risks, and promoting a competitive environment that encourages new ideas without compromising standards.
The plan is organized into four main areas.
First, supervision will adopt a holistic, risk-focused model using cross-functional teams to evaluate and engage with firms more consistently.
Second, regulation will involve overhauling the national rule set by eliminating obsolete elements, merging guidelines, and harmonizing with European Union standards.
This includes assessments of insurance rules against Solvency II, updates to pre-Capital Requirements Directive banking norms, revisions to credit union guidelines following lending changes, and refinements to rules for alternative investment funds, collective investment schemes, and fund providers.
Additionally, new directives on operational durability, external partnerships, and management practices will be introduced, alongside a framework for evaluating regulatory impacts.
Third, the gatekeeping function will see the creation of a specialized unit to improve uniformity, openness, and speed in approvals and integrity checks for personnel.
Finally, data and reporting will undergo a thorough review to implement a structured, targeted approach that minimizes redundancies and aligns with continental efforts to ease administrative loads.
Feedback from industry participants has been integral to shaping these changes, with the bank pledging continued adjustments in response to market shifts, technological progress, and potential threats.
Leaders like Governor Gabriel Makhlouf and Deputy Governor Mary-Elizabeth McMunn emphasized the importance of this equilibrium in supporting sustainable economic expansion.
Building on this foundation, in January 2026, the Central Bank partnered with Italy’s Banca d’Italia to introduce their inaugural shared Innovation Data Challenge.
This program seeks to encourage practical studies, cross-border teamwork, and ethical applications of information and tools in retail transaction systems.
It engages academic institutions from both nations, such as University College Dublin, University College Cork, the University of Galway, the University of Limerick, Bocconi University, Politecnico di Milano, and the University of Naples Parthenope.
Teams will access artificial and authentic financial data through a protected system to perform analytical investigations.
Outstanding entries will be showcased to a global panel of specialists, underscoring the banks’ dedication to scholarly rigor and fresh insights into payment evolution.
Together, these developments demonstrate the Central Bank’s proactive stance in modernizing finance.
By streamlining regulations and engaging in collaborative research, Ireland positions itself as a hub for resilient financial services amid increasing global uncertainties.