Banking & Payments Federation Ireland
Banking & Payments Federation Ireland, or BPFI, is the federation of banks, payment institutions and fintech companies in Ireland, with its seat in Dublin. The federation speaks for its members at national and EU level on all issues that affect their business in Ireland. Its staff provide members with specialist support, research and information on banking and payment matters.
BPFI represents more than 120 domestic and international member institutions, from the main retail banks to international banks and fintechs. Two affiliates work under the federation: the Federation of International Banks in Ireland for international banks and the Fintech & Payments Association of Ireland for fintech firms. Offices in Brussels and Frankfurt connect the work of BPFI with European policy and supervision.
Members and affiliates
Full membership of BPFI is open to credit and financial institutions that a competent authority has approved for banking or financial services in Ireland, and to their supervised subsidiaries. Other firms join in other categories, such as the Banking Associates Network for professional service firms that advise the sector. The Irish Payments Council is the strategic and representative body of the payments industry within BPFI and also looks after the integrity of the payment system.
The Fintech & Payments Association of Ireland was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit and has been an affiliate of BPFI since 2018, with more than 800 members from over 130 companies. The Federation of International Banks in Ireland represents more than 30 global banks and investment firms, which together employ more than 19,000 people in Ireland.
Chief executive and president
Brian Hayes has been Chief Executive of BPFI since 2019 and sits on the board of the European Banking Federation, where he chairs the strategy group on fighting financial crime. Brian Hayes was a Member of the European Parliament for Dublin from 2014 to 2019 and deputy finance minister of Ireland from 2011 to 2014.
Susan Russell, Chief Executive of the Retail Ireland division of Bank of Ireland Group, is the President of BPFI. Enda Kilcullen, Region Head of Ireland for TD Securities, chairs the Federation of International Banks in Ireland and succeeded Davinia Conlan of Citi in that role.
Mortgage approvals and housing data
The BPFI Mortgage Approvals Report counts the mortgages that lenders in Ireland approve each month, split into first-time buyers, mover purchasers and switching, in a data series that starts in January 2011. In August 2026, lenders approved 5,083 mortgages worth 1,678 million euros, the strongest August since the series began, and first-time buyers made up 59.5 percent of the volume. In the twelve months to August 2026, 55,854 approvals worth almost 18.1 billion euros passed the mark of 18 billion euros for the first time.
Next to the monthly approvals, BPFI publishes a quarterly Housing Market Monitor with figures on the Irish property and mortgage market.
Upcoming fintech and finance events in Europe
Digital assets and tokenized funds
In its report Ireland's Digital Finance Opportunity, BPFI calls for a national digital finance strategy to make Ireland a leading European center for tokenized funds, digital asset servicing and institutional digital finance. The report points out that Ireland and Luxembourg together hold 91 percent of global cross-border fund assets, with Ireland strong in exchange-traded funds and money market funds. Among its seven recommendations are clear and efficient supervision under MiCA, leadership in digital asset servicing and custody, and more training in digital finance skills.
Leah Donnelly, Head of Digital Assets at BPFI and head of the Fintech & Payments Association of Ireland, presented the report, which updates a BPFI analysis of digital assets in Ireland from 2022.
Events and conferences
BPFI runs a program of conferences, seminars, webinars and briefings throughout the year, and many of these events are open to non-members. The Federation of International Banks in Ireland holds an annual International Banking Conference in Dublin for the international banks and investment firms in the country.
Address and offices
The head office of BPFI is on the third floor of One Molesworth Street in Dublin 2, D02 RF29. Through offices in Brussels and Frankfurt and its membership in the European Banking Federation and the International Banking Federation, BPFI follows EU and international legislation and standard setting for its members.
BPFI and Finance Loop
BPFI has an office in Frankfurt, the city where Finance Loop holds many of its events on banking, payments and digital assets. The topics of the BPFI digital finance report, such as tokenized funds, custody and supervision under MiCA, come up at Finance Loop events with banks and asset managers in Germany.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, tokenization, stablecoins, and DeFi. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.