Firms seeking authorisation in Ireland will find the Central Bank to be engaged, efficient, open and rigorous – Deputy Governor Cyril Roux

• Brexit has led to a material increase in the number of authorisation queries from UK authorised firms.
• When authorising a firm, the Central Bank will expect to see a substantive presence in Ireland.
• Applicants can expect a rigorous process where the Central Bank will expect to see risks managed and mitigated.

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In an address to the Institute of International and European Affairs today, Deputy Governor Cyril Roux discussed the broad mandate of the Central Bank of Ireland, discussing its role in the context of current issues focusing on Brexit, insurance and residential mortgages.

In relation to the post Brexit environment he confirmed that there has been a material increase in the number of authorisations queries from UK authorised firms since the UK referendum. He said: ‘Many of these engagements have been preliminary in nature. But several have moved in the pre-application or application phase and this is likely to continue in the coming months as UK firms prepare for the possibility of a loss of passporting rights into the EU’.

He stated ‘in determining an application for authorisation we follow clear, published rules and processes derided from EU and are guided by our mandate to protect consumers. We are mindful of the fiduciary role of financial actors, and the need to safeguard deposits, premiums or client assets from loss stemming from incompetence, mis-governance or outright failure.

‘In authorising a firm, 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 the Central Bank’s workforce planning for next year reflects the additional resource needed to deal with applications and contingency has been built in as it is expected that the financial sector will grow materially.