Delivering a well-functioning financial system, supporting a changing economy - Central Bank of Ireland hosts third annual Financial Systems Conference

The Central Bank of Ireland today (18 November) hosts the third annual Financial Systems Conference.  Building on the success of previous events, this year’s Conference theme is “Delivering a well-functioning financial system, supporting a changing economy”.  Attendees at the Conference include industry leaders, consumer representatives and policymakers from Ireland and across the EU.

Speaking at the event, Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland Gabriel Makhlouf said: “In the face of a changing ecosystem, central banks, regulators, businesses and consumers all have to adapt, transform and evolve. 

“For our part, as a central bank, to meet the challenge, we are changing how we engage, how we work and how our frameworks reflect an increasingly digital world.

“We will continue to modernise our other frameworks, including a new Consumer Protection Code and negotiations on the new EU Financial Data Access Regulation. 

“Looking ahead, we recognise that public innovation in payment systems must keep pace with private innovation.  We also need to strengthen our capabilities around tokenisation and AI, two potentially transformative technologies that could provide greater access and choice to consumers.

“Our work across Europe on the Digital Euro responds to the shift in consumers’ preferences - this would be a digital form of cash, issued by the central bank and available to everyone in the euro area, going hand in hand with banknotes, providing an all-in-one digital payment option across the euro area, free for basic use. 

“Our most comprehensive response to the changing financial system comes in the form of our new supervisory framework, however.  The framework will of course remain risk-based, but it is evolving to deliver a more integrated approach, placing consumer protection at the heart of day-to-day supervision.

“Firms will hear one consistent voice from the Bank, with more coordinated, consistent messaging and more streamlined demands across the full span of our regulatory and supervisory mandate.

“We will promote a more open and transparent supervisory approach, with strategic supervisory priorities clearly identified and communicated in a proportionate and timely manner.  

“To enable and implement our new supervisory framework, we are moving to a new organisational structure, as we said we would. This integrated team structure, built on sectoral lines, is key to implementing the new supervisory framework in an effective and efficient way.”