“Central Bank is committed to transparency and clarity in its authorisation processes and performance standards”, Director of Policy & Risk, Gerry Cross - Press release

• The Central Bank is committed to staff and deploy resources in line with the flow of applications
• In assessing any application we are guided as always by our mandate to safeguard stability and protect consumers

Speaking at a Deloitte briefing on Brexit: Business as Usual or Business Opportunity? Director of Policy & Risk, Gerry Cross, examined the implications of the Brexit vote from a regulatory and supervisory perspective: “our primary concern has been to ensure that regulated firms with business models exposed directly or indirectly to the UK economy have addressed and planned appropriately for negative impacts that may result from the UK decision to leave.”

He acknowledged that there is the potential for a material increase in the number of applications for authorisation by the Central Bank. Mr Cross said that “where we are asked to consider the authorisation of a firm in Ireland, we will want to be satisfied that we are authorising a business or line of business that will be run from Ireland and which we will be effectively supervising. We will expect there to be substantive presence.”  He added that “it is very important to have carried out a good quality authorisation process so that we have a good understanding of the business and the risks and how they are managed. Consumers of financial services are protected by the Central Bank's consistent standard of authorisation.”

Read the speech in full here.