Home loans without borders

Application form currently accessible at this link >

Key Stages of Application Process are accessible here >

The legal requirement is set out at section 5(1)(m) of PSD2.

The foundation for these requirements is article 5 of PSD2. Article 5 (1) of PSD2 requires the submission by an application of:

“(m) the identity of persons holding in the applicant, directly or indirectly, qualifying holdings within the meaning of point (36) of Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, the size of their holdings and evidence of their suitability taking into account the need to ensure the sound and prudent management of a payment institution;

(n) the identity of directors and persons responsible for the management of the payment institution and where relevant, persons responsible for the management of the payment services activities of the payment institution, as well as evidence that they are of good repute and possess appropriate knowledge and experience to perform payment services as determined by the home Member State of the payment institution”.

See guideline 13 of the CBOI Application Form and see EBA/GL/2019/04 29 November 2019 FINAL REPORT EBA Guidelines on ICT and security risk management.

See page 15 of the CBOI application form and EBA/GL/2018/05 (consolidated version) 18 July 2018 Final Report Guidelines on fraud reporting under the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) Application date 01.01.2019 Amended by EBA/GL/2020/01 01.07.2021.

See pages 14 and 15 of the CBOI application form and see also section 3.7 of EBA/GL/2019/04 29 November 2019 FINAL REPORT EBA Guidelines on ICT and security risk management.

Currently accessible at page 13 of this link >

See CBOI Application form guideline 9 on page 13; also CBOI Guidance Note (page 26) and EBA/GL/2017/10 27/07/2017 Final Report: Guidelines on major incident reporting under Directive (EU) 2015/2366 (PSD2).

governance arrangements and internal control mechanisms. See CBOI Application form guideline 8 on page 12; also the CBOI Guidance Note from pages 24 to 26 which specifies amongst things that the board has to have at least one independent director.

See the CBOI Application Form guideline 4, page 9; and the CBOI Guidance Note on the Business Plan is on pages 17 to 21 of the CBOI Guidance Note >

Program of operations. See section/guideline 3 on page 8 of the CBOI Application Form; and from pages 15 to 16 of the CBOI Guidance Note >

European Communities (Electronic Money) Regulations 2011 as emended by the PSRs.

EMI is an electronic money institution being a legal person that has been granted authorisation under Title II of Directive 2009/110 to issue electronic money; ‘electronic money’ means electronically, including magnetically, stored monetary value as represented by a claim on the issuer which is issued on receipt of funds for the purpose of making payment transactions as defined in point 5 of Article 4 of Directive 2007/64/EC, and which is accepted by a natural or legal person other than the electronic money issuer.

PI is a Payment Institution. A payment services provider where it is a Payment Institution as defined, requires a payment services authorisation.

ancillary activities are:

(a) the provision of operational and closely related ancillary services such as ensuring the execution of payment transactions, foreign exchange services, safekeeping activities, and the storage and processing of data;

(b) without prejudice to Regulation 43 (Access to payment systems), the operation of payment systems;

(c) business activities other than the provision of payment services, subject to any law of the State or of the Union applicable to such activities.

SI No. 6 of 2018 as amended.

See EBA/GL/2017/08 07/07/2017 Final Report Guidelines on the criteria on how to stipulate the minimum monetary amount of the professional indemnity insurance or other comparable guarantee under Article 5(4) of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 (PSD2)

The legal requirement is set out at section 5(1)(k) of PSD2 of the Guidance Note >

see EBA/GL/2019/04 29 November 2019 FINAL REPORT EBA Guidelines on ICT and security risk management

This requirement is in article 5(1)(j) of PSD2.

EBA/GL/2018/05 (consolidated version) 18 July 2018 Final Report Guidelines on fraud reporting under the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) Application date ØO 01.01.2019 Amended by EBA/GL/2020/01 01.07.2021.

Commission Delegated Regulation 2018/389

Commission Delegated Regulation 2018/389

see EBA-Op-2018-04 13 June 2018 Opinion of the European Banking Authority on the implementation of the RTS on SCA and CSC.

EBA/GL/2019/04 29 November 2019 FINAL REPORT: EBA Guidelines on ICT and security risk management and EDPD Guidelines 06/2020 on the interplay of the Second Payment Services Directive and the GDPR

personalised security credentials means personalised features provided by the payment service provider to a payment service user for the purposes of authentication (Article 4(31) of PSD2).

Safeguarding User’s Funds is in regulation 17(2) “A payment institution that provides payment services referred to in paragraphs 1 to 6 of the Schedule shall safeguard user’s funds in either of the following ways:

(a) user’s funds (i) shall not be mixed at any time with the funds of any person other than the payment service user on whose behalf the funds are held, and (ii) where the funds are still held by the payment institution and not yet delivered to the payee or transferred to another payment service provider by the end of the business day after the day of receipt, shall be deposited in a separate account in a credit institution or invested in assets designated or approved by the Bank for the purpose of these Regulations as secure, liquid and low risk assets;

(b) user’s funds shall be covered by an insurance policy.”

‘framework contract’ means a payment service contract which governs the future execution of individual and successive payment transactions and which may contain the obligation and conditions for setting up a payment account.

Follow these links to access:

Application Form >

CBOI Guidance Code >

See pages 19 to 21 of the CBOI Guidance Note

The Minimum Competency Code 2017 (MCC 2017) and the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013 (Section 48 (1)) Minimum Competency Regulations 2017 (MCR 2017) came into effect on 3 January 2018.

PCF means Pre-Approval Controlled Functions.

Qualifying Holding means a legal or natural person with a direct or indirect holding of shares or other interest in the applicant which represents 10 per cent or more of the capital or of the voting rights, or any direct or indirect holding of less than 10 per cent of the capital or of the voting rights but which makes it possible to control or exercise a significant influence over the management of the applicant in which a holding subsists.

This document is accessible if one inputs this title into one’s search box.

Guidance Note currently accessible at this link >

Regulation 21: “Where a payment institution has its registered office in the State, it shall have its head office in the State and shall carry out at least part of its payment service business in the State.”

Ireland. The Central Bank will expect decision-making at Board and Committee level to take place within the State. In addition, to ensure the central management is located within the ”head office”, its functions must include (where applicable):
(i) Financial Control;
(ii) Legal and Compliance; and
(iii) Risk Management.

It follows that there should be a significant senior management presence (within the applicant) in the State to ensure that full authority and effective control of the applicant rests within the “head office”.

Article 9 “Member States shall prohibit persons or undertakings that are not credit institutions from carrying out the business of taking deposits or other repayable funds from the public.
“Paragraph 1 shall not apply to the taking of deposits or other funds repayable by a Member State, or by a Member State's regional or local authorities, by public international bodies of which one or more Member States are members, or to cases expressly covered by national or Union law, provided that those activities are subject to regulations and controls intended to protect depositors and investors.”

Schedule par 4 Execution of payment transactions where the funds are covered by a credit line for a payment service user: (a) execution of direct debits, including one-off direct debits; (b) execution of payment transactions through a payment card or a similar device; (c) execution of credit transfers, including standing orders. Schedule par 5 Issuing of payment instruments and/or acquiring of payment transactions.

CBOI is the Central Bank of Ireland.

account information services means a payment service where funds are received from a payer, without any payment accounts being created in the name of the payer or the payee, for the sole purpose of transferring a corresponding amount to a payee or to another payment service provider acting on behalf of the payee, and/or where such funds are received on behalf of and made available to the payee.

1. Services enabling cash to be placed on a payment account as well as all the operations required for operating a payment account.
2. Services enabling cash withdrawals from a payment account as well as all the operations required for operating a payment account.
3. Execution of payment transactions, including transfers of funds on a payment account with the user’s payment service provider or with another payment service provider: (a) execution of direct debits, including one-off direct debits; (b) execution of payment transactions through a payment card or a similar device; (c) execution of credit transfers, including standing orders.
4. Execution of payment transactions where the funds are covered by a credit line for a payment service user: (a) execution of direct debits, including one-off direct debits; (b) execution of payment transactions through a payment card or a similar device; (c) execution of credit transfers, including standing orders.
5. Issuing of payment instruments and/or acquiring of payment transactions.
6. Money remittance.
7. Payment initiation services.
8. Account information services. These definitions need to checked against the definitions in the PSRs. For example what constitutes a payment account can be more widely in some jurisdictions.

payment initiation service means a service to initiate a payment order at the request of the payment service user with respect to a payment account held at another payment service provider.

'relevant proxy advisor' means a proxy advisor: (a) that provides services to shareholders with respect to shares that are admitted to trading on a regulated market in any Member State, and (b) in respect of which the competent Member State, within the meaning of Article 1(2)(b) of the Shareholders' Rights Directive, is the State (s1110K(7) of the SRD2 Regulations).

S1110D(5) (a) Subject to paragraph (b), an intermediary (in this subsection referred to as a ‘relevant intermediary’) who is provided with a confirmation under subsection (2) or (3) (in this subsection referred to as the ‘relevant confirmation’), shall, as soon as practicable, transmit the relevant confirmation to the shareholder to whom it relates. (b) Where: (i) it is not possible for the relevant intermediary to transmit the relevant confirmation directly to the shareholder to whom it relates, and (ii) the relevant intermediary is part of a chain of intermediaries, the relevant intermediary shall, as soon as practicable, transmit the relevant confirmation to each other intermediary in the chain of intermediaries known to the relevant intermediary as being part of the chain. (c) An intermediary to whom a relevant confirmation is transmitted under paragraph (b) and who can transmit the relevant confirmation directly to the shareholder to whom it relates shall, as soon as practicable, transmit the relevant confirmation directly to that shareholder.

Section 1110(4) Where a related party transaction entered into, or to be entered into, by a traded PLC involves a shareholder of the traded PLC, that shareholder shall not take part in the approval referred to in subsection s1110O(3).

‘related party’ has the same meaning as in the international accounting standards adopted in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council (The IAS Regulation) 

‘material transaction’ means a transaction in which any percentage ratio, calculated in accordance with one or more class tests, is 5% or more; ‘percentage ratio’ means, in relation to a transaction, a figure, expressed as a percentage, that results from applying a calculation under a class test to the transaction.

Section 1110(O)(5)( (a) Subsections (1) to (3) shall not apply to: (i) a transaction entered into in the ordinary course of business and concluded on normal market terms, (ii) transactions entered into between a traded PLC and its subsidiary, or a number of its subsidiaries, provided that (I) the subsidiary or subsidiaries are wholly owned by the traded PLC, or (II) no related party of the traded PLC has an interest in the subsidiary or subsidiaries, as the case may be, (iii) transactions regarding remuneration of directors, or certain elements of remuneration of directors, awarded or due in accordance with section 1110M, or (iv) transactions offered to all shareholders on the same terms where equal treatment of all shareholders and protection of the interests of the traded PLC are ensured. (b) In subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (a), ‘director’ has the same meaning as it has in section 1110M.

It is important to note how director is defined in s1110N(11).

A traded PLC may temporarily derogate from its remuneration policy where (a) doing so is necessary in exceptional circumstances, to serve the long-term interests and sustainability of the traded PLC as a whole or to assure its viability, and (b) the derogation is in accordance with the procedural conditions and other provisions on derogation set out in the remuneration policy.(s1110M(8) of the SRD2 Regulations).

The Remuneration Policy and what it must contain are set out in 13 paragraphs in s1110M(6)

‘intermediary’ means a person, whether situated in a Member State or elsewhere, that provides services, in relation to a traded PLC, of safekeeping of shares, administration of shares or maintenance of securities accounts on behalf of shareholders or other persons, and includes -
(a) an investment firm as defined in Regulation 3 of the European Union (Markets in Financial Instruments) Regulations 2017 (S.I. No. 375 of 2017),
(b) a credit institution as defined in point (1) of Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) No. 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms and amending Regulation (EU) No. 648/20128, and
(c) a central securities depository as defined in point (1) of Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) No. 909/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on improving securities settlement in the European Union and on central securities depositories and amending Directives 98/26/EC and 2014/65/EU and Regulation (EU) No.236/2012.

relevant proxy advisor means a proxy advisor: (a) that provides services to shareholders with respect to shares that are admitted to trading on a regulated market in any Member State, and (b) in respect of which the competent Member State, within the meaning of Article 1(2)(b) of the Shareholders' Rights Directive (means SRD1, SRD II and Directive 2014/59 establishing a framework for the recovery and resolution of credit institutions and investment firms), is the State.

relevant asset manager means an asset manager:
(a) that invests in shares traded on a regulated market on behalf of investors, and
(b) in respect of which the competent Member State, within the meaning of Article 1(2)(a) of the Shareholders' Rights Directive, (means SRD1, SRD II and Directive 2014/59 establishing a framework for the recovery and resolution of credit institutions and investment firm) is the State

relevant institutional investor means an institutional investor: (a) that invests, whether directly or through an asset manager, in shares traded on a regulated market, and (b) in respect of which the competent Member State, within the meaning of Article 1(2)(a) of the Shareholders' Rights Directive (means SRD1, SRD II and Directive 2014/59 establishing a framework for the recovery and resolution of credit institutions and investment firms) is the State.

traded PLC means a PLC: (a) whose shares are admitted to trading on a regulated market in any Member State, and (b) that is neither:(i) an undertaking for collective investment in transferrable securities within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Directive 2009/65/EC (UCITS)5, nor (ii) a collective investment undertaking within the meaning of point (a) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2011/61/EU on Alternative Investment Fund Managers and amending Directives 2003/41/EC and 2009/65/EC and Regulations (EC) No. 1060/2009 and (EU) No. 1095/2010 (section 1109(4) of the Act).

Article 15 of the Platforms Regulation

Recital (46) of the Platforms Regulation