Supervision

The Central Bank’s supervisory objectives are to protect consumers and financial stability by seeking to ensure that regulated firms:

Act in the best interests of consumers
Are financially sound and safely managed with sufficient financial resources
Are governed and controlled appropriately, with clear and embedded risk appetites, which drive an appropriate culture within them
Have frameworks in place to ensure failed or failing providers go through orderly resolution

Who We Supervise

View more detailed information on the supervision process applicable to the following financial services providers in the different industry and market sectors.

How We Supervise

We implement our supervisory role by:

Processing applications from financial services providers for authorisation in Ireland
Monitoring compliance with prudential standards, primarily through examining prudential returns (weekly, monthly and annual), financial statements and annual reports, conducting regular review meetings and on-site inspections
Developing systems and procedures to monitor activities and detect non-compliance by financial service providers
Issuing guidance notes to enhance our supervisory oversight due to continued growth and changes in financial markets
Supporting the development of domestic legislation and implementing EU regulations and international standards

Our Supervisory Activities

The following topics contain more information on some of our supervisory activities.

Inspections & review meetings Inspections and review meetings are a critical element of our supervisory process. Here is a general overview of the process for conducting inspections and review meetings.

This overview does not apply to on-site inspections for significant credit institutions under SSM. For specific information on how these are carried out, please refer to the ECB's Guide to Banking Supervision.

	Inspections	Review meetings
Aim	Confirm compliance with our regulatory requirements, assess corporate governance structures, internal controls and risk management systems.	Cover compliance issues and outstanding issues from last inspection
Notification	We endeavour to provide approximately 10 days notice of an inspection.	In writing prior to meeting date with agenda for meeting.
Duration	One day to two weeks depending on size of financial service provider	Half-day
Location	Off-site	On and Off-site
Conclusion	Post-inspection letter usually issued within 30 working days of close-out meeting (This deadline will not apply to themed inspections.)	N/A

Cross-border supervision Under the European Union (EU) passporting rules, as set out in a number of Directives, a financial service provider authorised in one EU Member State can establish as a branch in another Member State and/or provide services in another Member State without establishing a physical presence there.

When a financial service provider authorised in Ireland by the Central Bank (home state regulator) is operating under a passporting arrangement in another EU member state (host state regulator) the Central Bank, as home state regulator, is responsible for the prudential supervision of that entity.

On that basis, the Central Bank's supervisory responsibilities cover:

Irish-authorised financial service groups and other providers with a head office in Ireland
Irish subsidiaries of financial service groups whose head office is authorised by an overseas regulator
Overseas branches of Irish authorised financial service providers
Compliance with anti-money laundering regulations by EU branches operating in Ireland
Compliance with conduct of business rules by all financial service providers operating in Ireland (including those authorised elsewhere)

For specific information on how EU passporting operates under SSM, please refer to the credit institutions section of this website.

Fitness and Probity Requirements A new Fitness and Probity Regime was introduced on 1 December 2011 and was fully implemented on 1 December 2012.

For more information about the process and to submit a Fitness and Probity Individual Questionnaire, please see our Fitness and Probity section.

Consumer Protection Issues The Central Bank has a statutory role in relation to consumer protection.

We have introduced a number of codes of conduct to give added protections to consumers when dealing with financial services providers.

Read more about the Consumer Protection Code and how we monitor compliance with this Code.

Regulatory Actions (Administrative Sanctions) In August 2004, legislation provided powers for the Central Bank to impose sanctions for prescribed contraventions of legislation or regulatory rules.

The Central Bank has issued documents in relation to Inquiry Guidelines and an Outline of the Administrative Sanctions Procedure. Read more about these in our Administrative Sanctions Procedure section.