The following list of banks in the Republic of Ireland is to be understood within the framework of the European single market and European banking union, which means that the Irish banking system is more open to cross-border banking operations than peers outside of the EU.
European banking supervision distinguishes between significant institutions (SIs) and less significant institutions (LSIs), with SI/LSI designations updated regularly by the European Central Bank (ECB). Significant institutions are directly supervised by the ECB using joint supervisory teams that involve the national competent authorities (NCAs) of individual participating countries. Less significant institutions are supervised by the relevant NCA on a day-to-day basis, under the supervisory oversight of the ECB. [1] In Ireland's case, the NCA is the Central Bank of Ireland. [2]
As of 1 September 2025, the list of supervised institutions maintained by the ECB included the following five Irish banking groups as SIs, with names as indicated by the ECB for each group's consolidating entity: [3]
A study published in 2024 suggested that as of end-2023, Bank of Ireland had the most assets located in the Republic of Ireland (€156 billion) followed by Barclays (€143 billion), Citibank Europe (€139 billion), AIB (€125 billion), and Bank of America Europe (€68 billion). [4] : 27–29 In addition, Intesa Sanpaolo operates in Ireland via a subsidiary, whereas other euro-area SIs operate via branches. Conversely, the consolidated entity of Bank of Cyprus, a Cypriot SI, is an Irish public limited company, Bank of Cyprus Holdings plc. [3]
As of 1 September 2025, the ECB's list of supervised institutions included 15 Irish LSIs. [3]
Of these, the following three were designated by the ECB as "high-impact" on the basis of several criteria including size:
Based on the same ECB list, 11 of the remaining 12 Irish LSIs were affiliates of non-euro-area financial groups:
Based on the same ECB list, there were no other Irish LSIs except permanent tsb plc, subsidiary of permanent tsb Group Holdings plc (see above as high-impact LSI).
The Republic of Ireland is one of six euro-area countries with credit unions, together with Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the Netherlands. Irish credit unions are small cooperative credit institutions outside the scope of the EU Capital Requirements Directives, [5] and thus regulated and supervised under national law. At end-2023, there were 276 such Irish credit unions with total assets of ca. €24 billion (US$26 billion). [6] : 4 Their umbrella organization is the Irish League of Credit Unions.
Several other Irish credit institutions do not hold a banking license under EU law. These include the Central Bank of Ireland and Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, both of which are public credit institutions. [5] The Republic of Ireland is also the home of several building societies, such as EBS d.a.c..
A number of former Irish banks, defined as having been based in the present-day territory of the Republic of Ireland, are documented on Wikipedia. They are listed below in chronological order of establishment. Several came to an end in the wake of the post-2008 Irish banking crisis, which also saw the short-lived establishment of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (2011-2013).
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