The Central Bank Strategic Plan 2019-2021 launched – 9 November 2018

Speaking at the Dublin Chamber of Commerce on 9 November last, Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI), Philip R. Lane provided a brief outline of the CBI's new strategic plan. The Central Bank Strategic Plan 2019-2021 was launched on the same day and is available on the CBI's website. 

The plan identifies five thematic priorities for the CBI over the next three years: 

Strengthening resilience:

  • Brexit
  • Strengthening consumer protection
  • Engaging and influencing; and 
  • Enhancing organisation capability. 

The Governor noted that the past decade has seen the immersion of the CBI in crisis management followed by reconstruction of the regulatory system. He stated the CBI will now enter a period of consolidation, in which the progress made in recent years is maintained and new challenges are taken which are accompanied by a focus on improving its efficiency and capability in delivering existing tasks. 

1. Strengthening resilience

The first priority of the  CBI will be to continue to strengthen the resilience of the financial system, both through its system-wide macroprudential policies and ensuring that major firms are well capitalised, maintain adequate liquidity buffers and have effective resolution plans if firm survival is called into question. 

2. Brexit

Secondly, the CBI assumes a clear responsibility to address the implications of Brexit for the financial system. The CBI will take a rigorous and efficient approach to the authorisation and supervision of the new wave of firms seeking to set up or expand operations. It will also assess and mitigate the financial stability risks (both direct and indirect) associated with disorderly Brexit scenarios. 

3. Strengthening consumer protection

Thirdly, the CBI is committed to the further expansion of our consumer protection framework. Amongst other measures, this will involve more intrusive and targeted assessments of those firms and products that pose the greatest potential harm to consumers, an enhanced focus on the culture of firms and the individual accountability of the people who run the firms we regulate. These measures are intended to embed high standards of conduct in order to deliver fair outcomes for consumers and will be reinforced by a commitment to take enforcement actions where these standards are not met. 

4. Engaging and influencing

A fourth priority of the CBI is termed “engaging and influencing”. It plans to expand its public engagement programmes, both in order to listen to the concerns of the public and explain the policies and work of the CBI. It is committed, at both domestic and international levels, to sharing its expertise with the broader policymaking community, while being influential in the collaborative policy development activities that underpin the shaping of policy decisions in the Eurosystem and the European System of Financial Supervision. 

5. Enhancing organisation capability

Finally, the CBI will undertake measures to enhance its internal capability.  This includes enhancing the skills of its workforce, embracing the potential of data analytics and improving the efficiency of the operational systems that underpin the work of the CBI.

For more informaiton, click here.

For more information please contact Elizabeth White, Knowledge Lawyer or any member of the A&L Goodbody Knowledge team.

Date published: 14 November 2018