Supervision Process for Bureaux de Change

General

The supervision process for Bureaux de Change is designed to monitor the effectiveness of the measures adopted by such firms to prevent money laundering and to combat the financing of terrorism.

Governance and Systems

Firms should have appropriate corporate governance in place.  Firms should also have systems and policies 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 firm.

“Fitness” requires that a person appointed as a Director or Manager has the necessary qualifications, skills and experience to perform the duties of that position.  “Probity” requires that a person is honest, fair and ethical.

An Individual Questionnaire ('IQ') should be completed in respect of each director and senior manager.  Please note that the Central Bank of Ireland's Fitness and Probity regime came into effect on 1 December 2011.  For further information on the new process, please view the Fitness and Probity page.

Supervisory Process

Our supervisory process is carried out by way of:

  • Regular correspondence and engagement with firms under our supervision 
  • Inspections 

Consumer Protection 

The activities of Bureau de Change are monitored by means of mystery shopping exercises.

Section 149A of the Consumer Credit Act, 1995 (as amended) ('the CCA')

Bureaux de Change providing relevant services must comply with Section 149A of the CCA which provides that you shall not impose a new charge or increase an existing charge for a service provided to a customer or a group of customers, without the prior approval of the Central Bank of Ireland (the 'Central Bank').

The Central Bank may impose sanctions on a firm pursuant to Part IIIC of the Central Bank Act, 1942 ('the Act') if, having concluded an inquiry, it determines that the firm has committed a contravention as defined by section 33AN of that Act.

Please see attached note on Section 149A of the CCA.