1 Obligations under the regulations
From 24 March 2026, conflicts for Irish regulated firms sit in the Consumer Protection Code 2025 (S.I. No. 81 of 2025). Insurance distributors also follow the European Union (Insurance Distribution) Regulations 2018 (S.I. No. 229 of 2018).
Establish, maintain and follow a conflicts policy that identifies the circumstances which may give rise to a conflict and the procedures you will use to manage them (Reg. 22). Some conflicts must be avoided outright, including volume or retention targets that ignore the consumer’s best interests, and agreements to direct business in return for goods or services (Reg. 23). Where another conflict cannot reasonably be avoided, disclose its nature and source, make sure it does not damage the consumer, get the consumer’s written acknowledgement, and take every step you control to manage it (Reg. 24).
Regulation 28 requires effective information barriers where information inside the firm, or with a connected party, could create a conflict — and procedures for what happens if a barrier is breached. Insurance intermediaries and undertakings distributing insurance-based investment products must keep organisational arrangements to prevent conflicts from adversely affecting customers, and must disclose a conflict in good time before the contract where those arrangements are not sufficient (S.I. 229/2018).
Gifts and rewards that would conflict with a duty to consumers are restricted separately — see gifts and hospitality.
2 What do I need to do
The policy names the types of conflict. The register shows the ones that have actually arisen, and what you did about each.
1. Identify the conflict and whose interest is affected
Include staff outside interests, group-company placements, commission and override arrangements, and conflicts between consumers. Separate the conflicts Regulation 23 says you must avoid from those you may manage under Regulation 24. Regzact can assist: record each potential conflict on a Conflicts of Interest register, linked to the people and organisations involved.
2. Avoid it, or manage it and disclose
If the conflict is one you must avoid, stop the arrangement and record that decision. If it can be managed, disclose the existence and details in writing, obtain the consumer’s acknowledgement on paper or another durable medium, and document the steps taken to limit the impact. Regzact can assist: track the mitigation, the disclosure and the consumer acknowledgement against the same entry.
3. Maintain information barriers where information itself is the risk
Where one part of the firm holds information that would compromise another, keep the barrier, tell the people it applies to, and log any breach of it as its own event. Regzact can assist: assign owners and tasks so a barrier breach is worked through, not left in email.
4. Review and report
Review the policy and the live situations on a set cycle. Board reporting should show new conflicts, avoided arrangements, disclosures outstanding and repeat themes. Regzact can assist: keep the register current and export it for management reporting.
3 What records do I need to keep
If the Central Bank asks how a conflict was handled, the policy alone is not enough. Keep the situation and the steps.
- The circumstance, whether it is actual or potential, and whether Regulation 23 required you to avoid it
- The people and organisations involved, and the consumer or class of consumer affected
- The measures adopted, including any information barrier
- Written disclosure of the nature and source of the conflict, and the consumer’s acknowledgement
- Business declined or remuneration changed because it could not be managed
- Breaches of information barriers and how they were handled
- Policy reviews and reports to the board
Hold these with the rest of your CPC and insurance-distribution records. Keep them for as long as the arrangement is live, and afterwards in line with your record-keeping policy.
4 Using AI to streamline the process
Whether a conflict must be avoided under Regulation 23 is a compliance decision. AI can still prepare the entry:
- Suggest whether a description looks like a target-based conflict, a directed-business arrangement, or a manageable outside interest
- Draft the disclosure for a person to approve before it is sent
- Match a new declaration to conflicts already on the register
- Flag entries with no mitigation, no acknowledgement, or an overdue review
Do not let a model decide that a conflict is permissible. Use it to draft and match; keep the judgement with compliance.
5 How Regzact can help
Regzact offers a Conflicts of Interest register to record potential conflicts between your staff and other organisations, and to track how each one is managed.
- Structured capture of actual and potential conflicts, with the people and organisations involved
- Classification, owners and tasks for avoidance or mitigation
- A record of written disclosure and of the consumer’s acknowledgement
- Reporting and file export for the board and the Central Bank
Gifts and hospitality, fitness and probity records and partner profiles sit on the same platform, so the conflict file is not a side spreadsheet.
This is a practical how-to for compliance managers. It is not legal advice. Always check the current text of the regulations and your own policies before you act.