Irish Company Circit brings Open Banking to the audit profession

Circit has announced it has been granted registration as an Account Information Service Provider (“AISP”) by the Central Bank of Ireland (“CBI”). Regulation by CBI paves the way for Circit to connect auditors with independent sources of audit evidence held by the banks of their client companies.

Circit was founded in Dublin in 2017 to introduce technology into the audit process to enhance efficiency; reduce the potential for fraud, and minimise cost for all stakeholders in the audit process.

Circit’s secure, easy-to-use platform transforms the audit process for its users, removing the fraud risk associated with the paper confirmation request process and enabling the process of audit confirmation requests on a real-time basis. Circit’s platform can reduce confirmation and reconciliation times from days to seconds. Used by auditors, solicitors and banks, the platform removes the administrative burden from all parties and enables a seamless, hassle-free confirmation.

Regulation by the Central Bank of Ireland will accelerate Circit’s growth in Ireland, the UK and Europe.

David Heath, Circit CEO, said: “Regulation by the Central Bank of Ireland represents an exciting step for Circit and will accelerate our growth. Our platform is built by auditors for auditors, addressing an unmet need for external bank confirmations and bringing fintech capability to the SMEs and Large Corporates who require a timely audit sign-off.

Circit automates many of the most time-consuming, traditional processes which have held the profession back in recent years. We also work closely with banks to remove significant cost from their operations and to help them to deliver a digital service to their business customers.

Following regulation in Ireland, our next objective is to achieve regulation by the UK’s FCA which will facilitate growth in the UK audit market.”

Head of Strategy and Development with the Fintech & Payments Association of Ireland, Michael Concannon said: “We monitor the PSD2 and Open Banking landscape closely and Circit is the first out of the blocks as an Irish registered AISP. Its innovative application of the regulation is a great example of where significant value can be added to multiple stakeholders in the business ecosystem.”