Reporting Requirements for Payment Institutions

Regular Reporting

Payment Institutions are required to submit the Payment Institution Accounts return XBRL (PIA) and Payment Institution Supplementary return XBRL (PIS) to the Central Bank of Ireland (“Central Bank”). These returns must be submitted on a quarterly basis, based on the year end of the individual Payment Institution.  Dedicated guidance documents for these XBRL returns are  available in the below section “XBRL Central Bank of Ireland Taxonomy 2.2.2”. The relevant XBRL Taxonomy has also been published at this location together with other relevant supporting documentation.

Additional guidance regarding reporting of Major Incidents; Operational and Security Risks; Payment Fraud Statistics; and Denial of Service can be found in the PSD2 - FAQ or PSD2 - Reporting Requirements pages.

Annual Accounts

The annual audited accounts of a payment institution authorised in Ireland under the provisions of the Payment Services Regulations must be submitted to the Central Bank within six months of the end of the relevant financial year end.

Reporting of Breaches or Errors

Payment institutions are required to report to the Central Bank:

• any material breaches of legislative or supervisory requirements; and
• any errors as defined in the Consumer Protection Code requiring an Error Notification Template

The Payment Institution should contact [email protected] directly.  Please also see additional contact points in the Contact Us section.

Duties of External Auditors

Following the audit of a Payment Institution’s financial statements, the auditor must supply the Central Bank with a copy of the 'Management Letter' issued to the Payment Institution’s Board of Directors or subcommittee of the Board.

In addition, auditors of Payment Institution’s must make an annual 'Statutory Duty Confirmation' to the Central Bank stating whether any circumstances came to their attention during their annual audit that gave rise to a duty to report the matter(s).

Both the 'Management Letter' and 'Statutory Duty Confirmation' should be submitted to the Central Bank at the following e-mail address: [email protected]. 

Statutory Duty Confirmations

Section 27B of the Central Bank Act 1997 (as inserted by the CBFSAI Act 2004) places a duty on auditors to make a written report to the Central Bank, within one month of the date of the auditor’s report on the financial service provider’s financial statements. The Statutory Duty Confirmation is sent directly to the Central Bank and is a statement to the Central Bank that there is no matter, not already reported in writing to the Central Bank by the auditor, that has come to the attention of the auditor during the ordinary course of the audit that gives rise to a duty to report to the Central Bank. Where matters have already been reported to the Central Bank, such matters should be referred to in the Statutory Duty Confirmation. The Statutory Duty Confirmation does not replace the auditor’s obligation to report under other relevant legislation.

Auditors must make a written report to the Central Bank stating whether or not circumstances have arisen that require the auditor to report a matter to the Central Bank under a prescribed enactment and if such circumstances have arisen, specify those circumstances.

This is an annual requirement and the Central Bank should receive such reports every year from the external auditor.

The report should be submitted to the Central Bank within one month of the date of the auditor’s report on the financial statements, or such extended period as the Central Bank allows.

The period covered by the Statutory Duty Confirmation commences from the date of issue of the previous declaration. It covers all matters that require the auditor to report to the Central Bank in respect of the specified period.

Chartered Accountants Ireland, in consultation with the Central Bank, prepared Guidance on Reporting to the Central Bank under the CBFSAI Act, 2004.

A pro-forma report to be used by auditors is set out in Miscellaneous Technical Statement M46 issued by the Chartered Accountants Ireland, in September 2006.

Auditors Management Letters

Section 27C of the Central Bank Act 1997 (as amended by the CBFSAI Act 2004) requires that if the auditor of an entity regulated by the Central Bank makes a report to the entity, or those concerned with its management, on any matter that has come to the auditor’s notice during the course of the financial statement audit (or while carrying out any work for the entity of a kind specified by the Central Bank) the auditor must provide the Central Bank with a copy of that report.

The Central Bank Act, 1997 (as amended) requires auditors of financial services providers to provide the Central Bank with a copy of any report made on an entity (including payment institutions) or those concerned with its management during the course of a financial statement audit or while carrying out any work for the entity of a kind specified by the Central Bank.

The copy of the report must be provided at the same time as, or as soon as practicable after, the original is provided to the payment institution. If the auditor does not provide a report to the payment institution, the auditor must notify the Central Bank in writing that this is the case (a “nil return”).

If the auditor invites the payment institution to comment on a draft of a report and the payment institution comments, the auditor is obliged to send the final version of the report to the Central Bank. The Central Bank should, on an annual basis, receive from the payment institution auditors either a copy of the auditor’s report or a “nil return”.

An auditor of a payment institution who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with the provisions above, commits an offence.

XBRL Central Bank of Ireland Taxonomy 2.2.2

The latest version of the Central Bank of Ireland Taxonomy is 2.2.2 and this should be used for all reporting dates from 31 December 2023. For re-submissions of returns for dates prior to this please use the taxonomy applicable at the relevant reporting date (See section entitled “Previous versions of the XBRL Central Bank of Ireland Taxonomy”).

Previous versions of the XBRL Central Bank of Ireland Taxonomy

Central Bank of Ireland Taxonomy 2.1.1 is no longer valid and should only be used for re-submissions of XBRL returns for reporting periods from 30 June 2023 and before 31 December 2023. For any re-submissions for reporting dates prior to 30 June 2023, Taxonomy 2.1 should be used.