The Central Bank of Ireland has confirmed it will put a “limited migration period” in place for regulated firms to comply with the Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) rules.

The deadline is currently 14 September under the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), but in line with a European Banking Authority (EBA) opinion published in June, the Irish financial regulator has taken up the suggestion of giving merchants and payment providers “limited additional time” to ensure no disruption to payment systems.

“We have been engaging with the industry to develop a migration plan to implement SCA for e-commerce transactions, as soon as possible after this date,” a statement read, confirming that the migration period relates to e-commerce transactions only.

The central bank said it will continue to engage with the EBA and other national competent authorities in the European Union, aiming to agree a harmonised approach to the migration time periods.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority is expected to confirm the length of the additional migration period next week, with reports yesterday suggesting it will extend to more than 18 months for some businesses.

Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) welcomed the move and stated that it plans to launch public awareness campaign for consumers later this month, following an earlier campaign rolled out in July.

Gill Murphy, head of payments schemes at BPFI, said: “Today’s statement by the central bank is a very positive development for consumers and online businesses as it will prevent unintended disruption to online shopping from 14 September.

“That said, any additional time will be limited so it is critical that all e-commerce businesses and operators continue to progress their preparation and implementation at pace.”

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