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Credit Review Act 2026 published
On 3 February 2026, the Credit Review Act 2026 (the 2026 Act) was signed into law. The 2026 Act provides for the establishment and functions of the Credit Review Service as an independent statutory body to offer an informal appeals mechanism for SMEs and farmers denied bank credit. The 2026 Act applies to credit facilities between €1,000 and €5 million.
Central Bank publishes first access to cash report
On 24 February 2026, the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) published the first access to cash report. The Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Act 2025 (the 2025 Act) established a new framework to ensure the public has facilities to deposit and withdraw cash easily across Ireland. Under the 2025 Act, the Minister for Finance set specific local targets in November 2025, requiring that a minimum percentage of the population live within 10km of an ATM and a cash service point. The CBI monitors these levels to ensure infrastructure remains consistent with 2022 levels, specifically to counteract the impact of recent bank exits from the Irish market.
The first official report shows that Ireland’s cash network is currently meeting most of these requirements, with over 4,000 ATMs and 1,200 service points in operation. While the CBI identified six specific instances where targets were missed, these shortfalls were identified as being minor in nature. Designated banks are responsible for addressing the identified shortfalls and the CBI has issued notifications to those banks in this regard.
EBA publishes final guidelines on proportionate retail diversification under standardised approach for credit
On 13 February 2025, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a final report on guidelines on proportionate retail diversification methods under Article 123(1) of the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) (the Guidelines). The Guidelines create an EU-wide framework for determining whether retail portfolios are sufficiently diversified to qualify for the preferential retail risk-weighting and applying a proportionate application for smaller institutions. The final version of the Guidelines raises the diversification threshold from 5% to 10%, with the purpose of easing the impact on smaller and medium-sized institutions and preserving the necessary prudential safeguards.
The Guidelines also amended the treatment of securitised retail exposures, differentiating between the diversification assessment applicable when institutions act as originators and when they act as investors.
EBA issued opinion on draft amended European Sustainability Reporting Standards
On 17 February 2026, the EBA issued an opinion on the draft amended European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) (the Opinion). It supports the general approach which aims to reduce the reporting compliance costs. Despite the progress, the EBA has encouraged institutions to continue to analyse sustainability related risks and recommends time-limits for alleviation in different areas. The EBA encourages the European Commission (the Commission) to consider the issues described in the Opinion before adoption of the amended draft ESRS.
The EBA noted the benefit of setting time-limits as they preserve interoperability with the international standards and emphasised that those undertakings that fall within the scope of the revised CSRD should be capable of meeting the requirements without extensive exemptions.
EBA and ESMA commence consultations on suitability assessment reforms
The EBA and ESMA have launched a consultation on draft revised joint guidelines on the assessment of the suitability of the members of the management body and key function holders (the Guidelines). The EBA has also commenced a consultation on draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) specifying the documentation and information that ‘large institutions’ must submit as part of their ‘suitability application’ to enable competent authorities to conduct a suitability assessment of members of the management body and certain key function holders.
The Guidelines and RTS form a ‘Suitability Package’, which seeks to harmonise suitability assessments and promote supervisory convergence across the EU.
The consultation periods will run until 25 May 2026.
EBA advises national authorities on actions to take at the end of the transition period under its No-Action Letter on the interplay between PSD2 and MiCA
The EBA has issued an opinion to advise national competent authorities (NCAs) on how to prioritise their authorisation efforts when the transition period ends on 2 March 2026. This transition period began when a No-Action Letter (NAL) was issued in June 2025, in respect of crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) that carry out transactions using electronic money tokens (EMT). The NAL had allowed CASPs to avail of a period of ‘regulatory tolerance’ to operate without a second licence, provided they were moving towards compliance with Directive (EU) 2015/2366 on payment services in the internal market (PSD2). While the Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA) regulated them as crypto assets, their function can also qualify as ‘funds’ or ‘e-money services’ under PSD2. The EBA clarified that certain activities, specifically the execution of transfers of EMTs on behalf of clients, constitute payment services.
After the transition period, NCAs have been informed to deal with compliance under three scenarios:
Date published: 30 March 2026
This publication provides an overview of certain legal and regulatory developments that may be of interest to certain entities. It does not purport to provide analysis of law or legal advice and is strictly for information purposes only.