Rathbones Ireland wins MiFID licence to serve clients across the EU

Rathbones has secured a Markets in Financial Instruments Directive licence from the Central Bank of Ireland. The authorisation enables its Dublin-based subsidiary, Rathbones Ireland, to provide services to clients in Ireland and elsewhere in the European Union.

The licence gives the group a regulated base from which to serve cross-border clients. Dolores Geaney heads Rathbones Ireland; she joined Rathbones in April to set up and manage its European operations.

Geaney framed Ireland as a natural home for the European business, describing an internationally connected market with deep financial expertise and strong links across the EU. She pointed to a focus on building a client-led business from Dublin, working with clients, advisers and partners who need investment management and long-term support across increasingly international lives.

Rathbones wealth CEO Camilla Stowell said securing the Irish licence is central, giving the firm a base to support clients in Ireland and across the EU. She cited a combination of local presence with the investment expertise, financial planning and personal relationships of the wider group, and an ambition to help clients make confident long-term decisions as lives and wealth move across borders.

The approval comes as Rathbones Group manages a separately announced voluntary pause on onboarding clients requiring enhanced due diligence.

That pause, disclosed in June, applies to new clients requiring Enhanced Due Diligence, alongside a halt to some fresh money from existing higher-risk clients. The group said the measure would last up to 12 months while it implements changes to procedures and controls.

The review behind the pause pointed to weaknesses in the firm's UK wealth management arm in how Consumer Duty has been put into practice and embedded, along with parts of its compliance, oversight and assurance framework.

For wealthy clients and their advisers, regulatory authorisations and supervisory findings shape where cross-border wealth can be served and how. Rathbones Ireland's authorisation adds an EU-regulated route, while the group's UK review underscores how compliance and suitability frameworks remain central to onboarding decisions.