McMunn puts safeguarding and fraud at heart of payments oversight
Irish payment providers recorded €179 million in fraudulent payments in 2025, up 27 percent from €140 million in 2024. Central Bank of Ireland Deputy Governor Mary-Elizabeth McMunn set out supervisory priorities on October 14, 2026.
Customer money under scrutiny
Speaking at the Electronic Money Association's 25th anniversary conference, McMunn identified safeguarding, operational resilience and financial crime as supervisory priorities.
Safeguarding weaknesses persist, including outsourced control failures.
Boards must oversee technology risks, map dependencies and test recovery plans under the Digital Operational Resilience Act.
Fraudulent e-money payments rose 57.7 percent to €40.42 million, their second consecutive year leading relative increases; credit transfers drove the overall value increase.
A completed review examined fraud controls and victim treatment; findings will follow.
The bank also reported 333 scam URLs, with 99 percent removed, and assists Irish police with fraud investigations.
Public money meets tokenisation
McMunn cited Pontes, launched in September to connect TARGET Services with distributed-ledger settlement in central bank money, and the digital euro alongside continued cash access.
The Innovation Hub held 78 firm engagements in 2025, up 10 percent.
The payments sandbox accepted eight projects across three themes: money movement, digital inclusion and emerging technologies.
Examples included cross-border transfers, biometrics, financial guidance and tokenised sustainable lending.
An outcomes report is due in November; a third sandbox will launch in the coming months.
Trust before technology
McMunn warned that innovation without interoperability risks fragmentation and higher costs.
Households prioritize security, reliability and fraud protection over efficiency.
Her message to firms was to preserve those outcomes while avoiding excessive reliance on artificial intelligence at the expense of human judgment.