Module Application
Banking and lending activities play a central role in the Irish financial system and are therefore subject to extensive statutory, regulatory, prudential, and conduct oversight at both national and European level. This module applies to organisations carrying on banking, lending, mortgage, credit servicing, and related regulated activities in Ireland, including credit institutions and other organisations involved in the provision, administration, servicing, and oversight of lending products and payment-related services.
Organisations operating in this sector are held to high standards by regulators and supervisory authorities including the Central Bank of Ireland, the European Central Bank, the European Banking Authority, and other competent Irish and EU bodies. These authorities require organisations to demonstrate robust governance arrangements, prudent capital and liquidity management, effective risk and operational resilience frameworks, fair customer treatment, and strong systems and controls to prevent financial crime and other regulatory breaches.
To meet these expectations, organisations involved in banking and lending must maintain sound authorisation and licensing arrangements, operate within the scope of their permissions, ensure that senior individuals are fit, proper and accountable, and implement effective systems for prudential compliance, consumer protection, credit underwriting, data protection, outsourcing, operational resilience, and regulatory reporting. Compliance requires ongoing attention to both organisation-facing obligations and customer-facing obligations, particularly in areas such as responsible lending, arrears handling, complaints, disclosures, anti-money laundering controls, and incident management. This module is designed to support organisations in navigating an increasingly complex and evolving banking and lending regulatory landscape in Ireland, providing a structured framework to assess, implement, and maintain compliance while supporting financial stability, market integrity, and consumer protection.
Module Scope
This module covers the principal authorisation, prudential, governance, conduct, lending, financial crime, data protection, payments, and recovery and resolution obligations applicable to banking and lending activities in Ireland throughout the organisation lifecycle. It addresses regulatory status and permissions, prudential capital and liquidity obligations, governance and accountability requirements, customer and borrower protections, and the legal and operational requirements that apply to the origination, servicing, transfer, and administration of credit.
The scope further includes anti-money laundering and sanctions controls, operational resilience, outsourcing, ICT and cybersecurity obligations, confidentiality and personal data protection, payment services requirements, and obligations relating to recovery planning, resolution planning, and regulatory engagement. It also encompasses key areas of supervisory interaction, complaints handling, market conduct where relevant, and the regulatory consequences that may arise where organisations fail to meet applicable standards.
Some of the specific questions this module covers are:
- Does the organisation ensure that it is appropriately authorised to carry on banking and lending activities in Ireland, operates only within the scope of its regulatory permissions, and complies with ongoing conditions of authorisation?
- Does the organisation maintain adequate capital, liquidity, governance, and risk management arrangements to satisfy applicable prudential and supervisory requirements?
- Does the organisation ensure that senior management, board members, and controlled function holders are fit and proper, subject to appropriate accountability arrangements, and capable of discharging their responsibilities in compliance with Irish and EU requirements?
- Does the organisation treat customers fairly throughout the product lifecycle, including at the pre-contract, underwriting, sale, post-sale, arrears, complaints, and enforcement stages?
- Does the organisation ensure that consumer credit, mortgage lending, credit servicing, and loan transfer activities are conducted in compliance with all applicable statutory and regulatory requirements?
- Does the organisation maintain effective systems and controls to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, and sanctions breaches, and to support timely reporting to relevant authorities?
- Does the organisation operate effective operational resilience, outsourcing, cybersecurity, data protection, and incident management frameworks to support continuity of critical services and protection of customer information?
- Does the organisation prepare for periods of financial stress and cooperate appropriately with supervisory and resolution authorities in relation to recovery, resolution, and wind-down planning?
The key topics covered in this module are:
- Authorisation and Regulatory Status
- Prudential Regulation and Capital Requirements
- Governance, Fitness and Probity
- Conduct of Business and Consumer Protection
- Lending and Credit Regulation
- Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crime
- Operational Resilience, Outsourcing and ICT Risk
- Data Protection and Confidentiality
- Payments and Electronic Money
- Recovery, Resolution and Wind-Down
- Market Conduct, Regulatory Engagement and Enforcement
The module encompasses a range of legislative sources including:
- Central Bank Act 1942
- Central Bank Act 1971
- Central Bank Reform Act 2010
- Central Bank (Individual Accountability Framework) Act 2023
- Consumer Credit Act 1995
- Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Act 2015
- Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Act 2017
- Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010
- Data Protection Act 2018
- Companies Act 2014
- Capital Requirements Regulation (EU) No 575/2013
- Capital Requirements Directive (2013/36/EU), as amended
- SSM Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013
- SSM Framework Regulation (EU) No 468/2014
- European Union (Capital Requirements) Regulations 2014
- European Union (Bank Recovery and Resolution) Regulations 2015
- European Union (Mortgage Credit Agreements) Regulations 2016
- European Union (Payment Services) Regulations 2018
- Consumer Protection Code 2012
- Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears 2013
- SME Regulations 2015
- Mortgage Credit Directive 2014/17/EU
- General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679
- Digital Operational Resilience Act (EU) 2022/2554
- NIS2 Directive (EU) 2022/2555
- PSD2 (Directive (EU) 2015/2366)
- RTS on Strong Customer Authentication (EU) 2018/389
- Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive 2014/59/EU, as amended
Relevant regulators include:
- Central Bank of Ireland
- European Central Bank
- European Banking Authority
- Single Resolution Board
- Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman
- Data Protection Commission
- Financial Intelligence Unit Ireland
- Competition and Consumer Protection Commission
Non-compliance with applicable regulatory requirements can result in serious consequences, including refusal or withdrawal of authorisation, supervisory intervention, administrative sanctions, public reprimands, remediation directions, customer redress obligations, restrictions on business, monetary penalties, individual accountability consequences, criminal liability in certain areas, and resolution or insolvency-related intervention where relevant.
The Banking and Lending module maps regulatory consequences to each obligation, including supervisory enforcement, administrative sanctions, conduct-related interventions, prudential restrictions, remediation requirements, customer protection outcomes, and financial crime and data protection penalties where applicable.
This module is designed for banks, lenders, mortgage providers, credit servicing organisations, payment services organisations, and other organisations responsible for the governance, operation, control, or oversight of banking and lending activities in Ireland.
About LexisNexis Regulatory Compliance
LexisNexis Regulatory Compliance® helps you forge a clear path to compliance.
With LexisNexis® content know-how at the core, our compliance registers, alerts, and information-driven solutions make compliance uncomplicated for GRC professionals across the globe.