Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 October 2025
35. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Finance the steps his Department and the Central Bank are taking to enhance the resilience of Ireland’s payment systems against fraud, including coordination with retail banks, fintech companies, and card issuers. [57604/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy officials are undertaking a number of steps in the effort to fight payment fraud and enhance the resilience of Ireland's payment systems, at both the national and EU level.
Firstly, the Instant Payments Regulation requires the provision of an IBAN/name check, which applies to both instant payments and standard credit transfers and is now in effect. This IBAN/name check function reduces credit transfer fraud by alerting the payer when the name of the account they are sending money to does not match the name they have inputted.
Secondly, negotiations are ongoing in relation to the European Commission's proposed payment services directive, which is known as PSD3, and the payment services regulation, which is known as the PSR. These will jointly replace the second Payment Service Directive, which is usually referred to as PSD2.
Proposals in PSD3/PSR include measures such as enhanced fraud reporting requirements for payment service providers to their regulators, enhanced transaction monitoring and the establishment of a European legal base for payment service providers to share fraud data. The PSR also expands the grounds for reimbursement by PSPs to fraud victims.
The proposed grounds for reimbursement include failure to carry out the IBAN/name check correctly and where the fraud arises from impersonation of the victim's own PSP. A further proposal is to require electronic communications services providers to cooperate with PSPs in relation to PSP impersonation fraud. Currently, the file is in Trilogue negotiation stage under the Danish Council Presidency.
Thirdly, at the domestic level, several steps are underway in line with recommendations made by the National Payments Strategy. The BPFI has established a cross sectoral anti-fraud forum with representatives from online platforms, financial services providers, telecommunications services providers and their respective regulators (the Central Bank, ComReg and Coimisiún na Meán) participating. This anti-fraud forum aims to foster cross-sectoral cooperation in fraud prevention through information sharing, coordinated action, and alignment with legislative requirements.
The national payments strategy actioned the Department of Justice, Home Affairs & Migration to work on legislation for a shared fraud database. I am informed by the Department of Justice, Home Affairs & Migration that work on this legislative project is underway.
Following a formal decision published in April 2024 ComReg is developing an SMS Sender ID Registry (the Registry) to prevent text scams and to protect the SMS channel as a reliable and trustworthy communications channel. From 3 July 2025, SMS with unregistered Sender IDs have been labelled “Likely Scam” to alert the recipient that the SMS may not be legitimate and since 3 October 2025, SMS messages with unregistered SMS Sender IDs will be blocked and those text messages will not reach recipients.
The Central Bank of Ireland is taking a number of actions to protect consumers against the increase in payment fraud. The Central Bank expects regulated firms to act in the best interests of their customers at all times. As per the Central Bank’s Regulatory & Supervisory Outlook Report, firms must have effective measures to mitigate the risk of fraud or scams and be proactive in identifying and dealing with cases of fraud or scams, including engaging effectively with consumers affected.
It is the responsibility of firms to design and use effective systems to protect their customers including against payment fraud. Central Bank expectations in this area include that firms:
• take steps to trace and recover money defrauded without undue delay, when the firm identifies or is made aware of a suspected fraud case;
• compensate customers to any extent a customer’s loss results from a failure of the firm’s own established systems and controls;
• review existing fraud prevention systems to see what further enhancements could be made to identify and prevent consumers falling victim to fraud, including authorised push payment fraud;
• be clear and transparent to customers about how the firm investigates suspected fraudulent transactions and what the firm’s refund policies are in respect of remediating / refunding fraudulent transactions, including on websites; and
• provide effective reporting and assistance to An Garda Síochána.
Furthermore, the Central Bank has as a part of wider changes to their supervisory approach, revised how they identify and supervise financial crime risks resulting in an enhanced approach which views risks more holistically (for example across money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud and sanctions evasion) and utilises a wide range of regulatory and supervisory tools to manage these risks.
Under the revised Consumer Protection Code 2025, the Central Bank has introduced new requirements to ensure firms are vigilant to the evolving risks to the system and their customers from frauds and scams, and that they take appropriate actions to protect customers, particularly in a digital context.
The revised Code will take effect on 24 March 2026 following a 12-month implementation period.
The Central Bank runs public awareness campaigns for consumers relating to financial fraud and has published useful information about how consumers can avoid scams and unauthorised financial activities. The Central Bank also provides information to consumers on how to take the SAFE test before making any financial decisions or providing any personal information.
The Central Bank has engaged with technology firms on how best to respond to the increase in online scam activity. Through this engagement, the Bank is requesting technology firms to verify whether services on their platforms are authorised by the Central Bank to offer such services.
This should help to disrupt online fraud and protect consumers from online scams. The Bank's Innovation Sandbox Programme’s initial focus is also on developing solutions to financial crime.
The Central Bank was recently awarded "trusted flagger" status under the EU's Digital Services Act by Coimisiún na Meán in May 2025. This accreditation allows the Central Bank to report illegal content, specifically financial scams and fraud, to online platforms, which are then legally obligated to act on these notices promptly without undue delay under the EU's Digital Services Act.
