‘Defensive’ attitude of Central Bank putting off fintech investors

Experts warn regulator is gaining a reputation for slow and unwieldy progress of applications

The Central Bank of Ireland is perceived as being out of touch and too slow to authorise companies, with fintechs in particular finding it difficult to deal with. Picture: Fergal Phillips

Fintechs seeking authorisation to operate in Europe are increasingly seeing Ireland as an unfriendly environment with the Central Bank of Ireland perceived as being out of touch and too slow to authorise companies, a number of leading experts have warned.

Speaking to the Business Post, Peter Oakes, a former Central Bank enforcement director and founder of Fintech Ireland, an industry group, said some companies which had sought authorisation through the Irish regulator had found it ...