Central Bank of Ireland publishes third-party risk paper

The Central Bank of Ireland has published a Consultation Paper to seek stakeholders' views on proposed Guidance on Good Practices for the Sound Management of Third-Party Risks.

The proposed Guidance will, upon finalisation, replace the existing Cross-Industry Guidance on Outsourcing, which was published in December 2021.

Since the publication of the Cross-Industry Guidance on Outsourcing, the Central Bank has observed significant developments in how firms engage with third parties. These include evolving third-party relationships beyond traditional outsourcing arrangements, and a changing risk environment. The development of new international standards and European frameworks also prompted a revision of the existing Guidance.

The Bank’s proposed Guidance of Good Practices for the Sound Management of Third-Party Risks reframes and represents the Guidance in a simplified way to make it more accessible. The reframing presents technical “guidance” as a series of outcomes with attendant good practices to assist in the achievement of these outcomes. The Central Bank focuses on whether third-party risks are sufficiently controlled or mitigated, respecting that firms have ownership, responsibility, and discretion to achieve these outcomes.

This work forms part of the Central Bank's regulatory simplification agenda. Its December 2025 publication, "Regulating and Supervising Well - a more effective and efficient framework", identified the need to update the Cross-Industry Guidance on Outsourcing. It has developed this proposed Guidance to ensure firms maintain robust oversight of critical service dependencies while reducing unnecessary administrative burden.

The Central Bank welcomes stakeholder views on the proposals, and the specific questions posed in Section 5 of Consultation Paper CP173.

Responses should be submitted by 3 December 2026 to TPRMconsultation@centralbank.ie.

Did you get value from this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.