Authorisation of Financial Services Firms
Matheson’s Financial Institutions Group are market-leading experts in the authorisation of financial services firms in Ireland.
Our multi-disciplinary practice structure within the Financial Institutions Group will ensures you receive market leading financial regulatory advice from a team of experts, who have unparalleled insight in terms of local regulatory expectations and market trends, having successfully guided well over 50 firms through the process of becoming authorised to provide cross-border financial services in Ireland and on a EU wide cross-border basis from Ireland.
At Matheson we believe that your professional advisers should give you a commercial advantage in getting established in Ireland. We have worked extensively over many years with a broad range of financial institutions, both domestic and global, including banks, insurers, investment managers, payment institutions and e-money institutions on their licensing projects. We continually look to use the breadth and depth of our experience to benefit our clients. In our view, dedicated teams with extensive industry sector knowledge offer the best value for clients.
We provide end-to-end support for clients who are establishing regulated entities in Ireland or updating their existing authorisation, offering practical, commercially focused advice on:
- Licensing strategy and timelines;
- Design, drafting and submission of programme of operations and related documents;
- Staffing and substance requirements;
- Outsourcing frameworks; and
- Consumer protection and conduct risk.
Our team’s experience spans all major regulatory frameworks, including CRD/ CRR, MiFID II, AIFMD/UCITS, PSD2, AML/CTF, Solvency II, and the Insurance Distribution Directive.
We are particularly recognised for our leadership in:
- Advising clients on changes to the business model of their existing regulated entities in Ireland, and the consequent engagement required with the Central Bank on same;
- Third-country branch authorisations;
- Advising global banks and fintechs on their regulatory engagement strategy with the Central Bank;
- Post-Brexit authorisations for UK-based insurers and distributors seeking EU market access;
- MiFID II authorisations for broker-dealers, algorithmic traders, and multilateral trading facilities; and
- E-money and payment institution licensing, having advised on over half of all Irish e-money authorisations to date.
Experience Highlights
- In the insurance sector we have helped a significant number of UK-based insurance distributors and undertakings get authorised in Ireland under the Insurance Distribution Directive and Solvency II so that they can continue to service the European market after Brexit.
- We have advised a large number of leading investment firm and market infrastructure firms on their Irish MiFID II authorisations. The firms we have helped get authorised range from retail client focussed broker-dealers to algorithmic trading firms, prop traders and multilateral trading facilities. This means we have detailed knowledge of all aspects of the MiFID II regulatory framework and can comfortably handle any authorisation project no matter what MiFID permissions the business model involves.
- We have has been instructed by some of Europe’s biggest players in the Fintech and Payments sector over the past 4 years. Ireland now has 14 authorised e-money institutions and we have worked on over half of those Irish authorisations to date – more than any other Irish advisory firm in this space. We have advised clients who operate e-money accounts, money remittance and merchant acquiring business models to name but a few. Several of these clients are Irish regulated subsidiaries of some of the largest tech firms in the world.
- We have advised some of Europe’s leading credit institutions establish Irish branches under CRD IV, and advised them on applicable Irish conduct of business rules that apply in the Irish market. We have also advised on the only third country branch authorisation project to take place in the Irish market in the last five years.
- We also have extensive experience in advising clients on the domestic Irish law authorisation process for fund administrators, retail credit firms and credit servicing firms.
