The Central Bank of Ireland has issued a warning about an unauthorised entity operating as HSBC Continental Europe, saying it is a clone firm that copied the name and details of a legitimately authorised firm in order to deceive consumers. The notice classifies the entity as an unauthorised banker and states that it also cloned Central Bank authorisation number CBI00001421, which is assigned to Cowan Insurance Brokers Limited. Cowan Insurance Brokers Limited has no connection to the fraudulent entity. The name was published under section 53 of the Central Bank Supervision and Enforcement Act 2013.
Central Bank of Ireland2026-06-03
Central Bank of Ireland warns over unauthorised HSBC Continental Europe clone using Cowan Insurance Brokers Limited authorisation number
The Central Bank of Ireland has warned about an unauthorised clone firm operating as HSBC Continental Europe, which copied the name and details of a legitimately authorised firm to deceive consumers. The entity is classified as an unauthorised banker and also cloned Central Bank authorisation number CBI00001421, which belongs to Cowan Insurance Brokers Limited, a firm with no connection to the fraudulent entity.