On 3 November 2026, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) published Consultation Paper 15/26 ‘Northern Ireland Credit Unions: Implementing legislative changes’ (CP15/26).
Background
In April 2025, the Department for the Economy (DfE) in Northern Ireland consulted on a number of proposed reforms to modernise the credit union sector in Northern Ireland with the aim of ‘ensuring it remains sustainable, inclusive and better able to meet the financial needs of its members and communities for the future’. In May 2026, the DfE published its final policy statement setting out how it will progress policy changes and its approach to reforming the credit union legal framework – The Credit Union (Modernisation and Reform) Public Consultation. The Northern Ireland Executive has introduced draft primary legislation to take forward a number of its policy proposals, which is intended will be enacted by April 2027 (the Credit Unions (Amendment) Bill).
Summary
In CP15/26 the PRA sets out proposed changes to its rules and supervisory expectations in response to planned legislative reforms for Northern Ireland Credit Unions (NICUs) being taken forward by the DfE. It also proposes additional PRA expectations in respect of managing risks associated with these changes and new activities.
The policy proposals include:
- A new chapter in Supervisory Statement 2/23 to set out the PRA’s expectations to manage the risks associated with changes set out by the Northern Irish legislative amendments, including the referral of members to other NICUs and loan participation.
- Amendments to the Credit Unions Part of the PRA Rulebook to accommodate the legislative changes, including incorporating member referral and loan participation in the definition of ‘additional activities’.
Next steps
The deadline for comments on CP15/26 is 12 January 2027.
The PRA proposes that the implementation date for the changes resulting from CP15/26 would be April 2027 so as closely to align with the intended effective date for the legislation.