Central Bank of Ireland Deputy Governor Mary-Elizabeth McMunn called for stronger payment safeguards after providers resident in Ireland recorded sharply higher fraud losses in 2025, with payment service users bearing most of the cost.
The central bank put the value of payments identified as fraudulent at €179.04 million, up 27.2% from 2024. That measures the payments involved, rather than the losses entered in providers’ books during 2025.
Fraud losses recorded in 2025 reached €112.7 million, a 45.6% increase. Payment service users bore €84 million, or 74.6%, while providers bore €24.9 million. Some payments behind the recorded losses may have occurred before 2025.
Fraudulent e-money payments increased 57.7% in value to €40.42 million even as their number fell 23.5%. Across payment methods, roughly one transaction in 10,000 was fraudulent.
Speaking at a Dublin payments conference on Oct. 14, McMunn urged firms developing digital services to protect customer funds and prepare for disruptions. She warned that services built without the ability to work together could increase costs for households and businesses. McMunn said households placed particular value on “security, reliability and fraud protection.”
McMunn also urged boards to examine risks in outsourced processes and test plans for restoring services after an interruption. Earlier this month, Central Bank of Ireland Governor Gabriel Makhlouf urged bank directors to understand AI’s limits and remain accountable for decisions.
The Eurosystem launched Pontes on Sept. 21, connecting market platforms that use distributed ledgers with its TARGET Services so wholesale transactions can settle in central bank money. The launch followed Eurosystem tests in 2024. The ECB is targeting the second half of 2027 for a yearlong retail digital euro pilot. It says it will make an issuance decision only after the relevant regulation is adopted.
McMunn said the central bank had completed a review of controls on certain types of fraud and the fair treatment of customers who became victims. It will release those findings later and plans a separate report on its payments innovation sandbox in November.
