is consistent with the approach being developed across europe26. the european commission has identified the presence of well - developed secondary markets for npls as one of the building blocks of capital markets union ( cmu ), which is focused on providing new sources of financing for eu businesses, smes and high - growth innovative companies in particular, reflecting both the continued importance of banks ’ financing of the european economy and the associated need to resolve npls. the proposal creates a common set of rules that third party credit servicers need to abide by in order to operate within the union. the proposal sets common standards to ensure their proper conduct and supervision across the union. it is focused on the activity, rather than regulating the ownership. central bank of ireland - restricted more problematically, it is evident that the restructures undertaken by the non - banks have typically been more limited or have simply continued with shorter term forbearance, with a much greater reliance on arrears capitalisations and temporarily reduced payments. there are also concerns regarding the potential sale of loans where the borrowers have engaged, agreed and are meeting the terms of a long term restructure ( such as a split mortgage ) and are in many ways locked in to the arrangements with their lender – i. e. cannot re - mortgage. to this end, the central bank has committed to complete a review of the ccma, focused primarily on its effectiveness as regards the sale of loans, which were not a significant feature of the market at the time of the last ccma review. the protections of the ccma only apply to buy - to - let mortgages if the residential property is the only residential property in the state owned by the borrower. for mortgages in arrears that do not fall within the scope of the ccma ( e. g., buy - to - let properties which are not the only residential property in the state owned by the borrower ), the provisions of the code apply where the borrower is a ‘ personal consumer ’. with respect to arrears resolution, the code requires a lender to seek to agree an approach that will assist the personal consumer in resolving the arrears. where the borrower is a micro, small or medium sized enterprise, the sme regulations apply, which include specific requirements that regulated firms must comply with as regards handling arrears and financial difficulties. there is significant progress in restructuring buy to let mortgages with over 22, 000

philip r lane : opening of ireland's central bank dockland campus exhibitions speech by mr philip r lane, governor of the central bank of ireland, at the opening of ireland's central bank dockland campus exhibitions, dublin, 27 april 2017. * * * i am delighted that you could join us this evening to celebrate the opening of our visitor centre with two exciting and complementary exhibitions : the euro exhibition and pounds, shillings and independence. i am particularly delighted that stephanie van delft of the communications directorate at the european central bank is here with us this evening. stephanie, along with director general communications, christine graeff, deputy director communications, thierry bracke and director banknotes, ton roos was instrumental in sharing the euro exhibition with us. but why a visitor space in a central bank, you may ask? there is a simple answer to that question : we want people to understand what we do and why we do it, in order to facilitate greater transparency and understanding of our public service role. central banks across the world moved to the front pages of the newspapers in 2008 and have largely stayed there ever since. in that time, there has been extensive debate about monetary policy, financial stability policy and many other aspects of central banking that were previously considered arcane knowledge. but while the effects of ecb or federal reserve or national central bank decisions are widely reported upon and communicated, there is less focus on the motivation for those decisions. the central bank of ireland ’ s mandate is very clear : safeguarding stability, protecting consumers. every decision we take is in the public interest – albeit some of those actions may not be universally popular! explaining the rationale for those evidence - based decisions is important to us. while central bank independence is enshrined in the institutional and legislative framework of the european union, as well as domestic law, the flipside of that independence is accountability. and as a public institution, we take our obligations to be fully accountable for our actions very seriously. communications and accountability are therefore key components of our strategic plan 2016 – 2018. we demonstrate that accountability in several ways : our annual report and annual performance statement will be published next week ; we engage with oireachtas committees ; we publish minutes of our commission meetings ; we disclose operational information on our website ; and we explain our policies through a series of public speaking events and topical publications. the visitor space is another important element of that accountability. we share this vision with dublin city council, which requires that landmark