issued prohibition notices in several cases, so that in total, citizens can avail of the service of insurance intermediaries in ireland in the knowledge they are fit for the role, competent and solvent. mention of passporting brings me neatly to my third case study, on brexit. since the uk referendum, there has been a material increase in the number of authorisation 3 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches queries from uk - authorised entities. many of these engagements have been preliminary in nature. but several have moved into 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. as the governor stated to this institute in august 1 the central bank is committed to providing transparency, consistency and predictability with regard to our regulatory and supervisory responsibilities. potential applicants will find the central bank to be engaged, efficient, open, and rigorous. in determining an application for authorisation, we follow clear, published rules and processes derived from eu law, 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. outsourcing and insourcing are acceptable – up to a point. one may outsource activities, but one may not outsource responsibility. a firm may not outsource to the extent that it is effectively hollowing out its regulated activity. it has been said that the central bank does not want to see investment banking or trading in dublin. i want to be clear : we do not have such a position. we have not sought to dissuade any such entities from seeking authorisation nor are we planning to do so. such applicants, of course, like any other applicant, can expect a rigorous process where we will expect to understand clearly the risks inherent in the business and how they are managed and mitigated. we will need to be satisfied that this is done appropriately and well. this is no more and no less than would be expected by any applicant for any type of business. in this regard, it

policies that help restore competitiveness and, over the medium - term, provide the platform for realising growth potential. the significant measures already announced in relation to the public finances, in addition to those to be adopted over the coming weeks, signal our determination to make this difficult adjustment. against this general background, the pressures on the irish financial system have intensified significantly. irish banks continue to face very difficult conditions. their share prices have declined dramatically over the past year. the impact of the marked deterioration in the wider economy on the banking sector is a key concern. however, recent government actions with respect to the banking system demonstrate a commitment to take whatever measures are necessary to stand behind the financial system. most recently in this context, the government, in a similar fashion to those in many other countries, announced details of its recapitalisation scheme for the two major domestic banks. this increases the main banks ’ core tier 1 capital ratios, which are regarded as a key indicator of financial soundness. in addition, under the terms of the recapitalisation package, there is provision for a greater supply of credit to the real economy. the two main banks have confirmed their commitment to increase lending capacity to small - and medium - sized enterprises by 10 per cent and to provide an additional 30 per cent capacity for lending to first - time home - buyers in 2009. as part of the recapitalisation package the government announced that it is looking at other possible measures to enhance the stability of the overall financial system. discussions are underway with the other domestic financial institutions covered by the guarantee concerning their respective capital positions. in the context of the six - month review of the guarantee scheme, consideration is being given to adapting the scheme to facilitate longer - term bond issuance. in addition, the government has announced its intention to examine proposals to mitigate the impact of risks related to specific exposures on the assets side of banks ’ balance sheets, in line with ongoing work on this issue at european level. the role of the central bank the central bank has responded to the unfolding crisis in a number of ways. provision of liquidity the irish central bank, on behalf of the eurosystem, and along with central banks globally, has been providing significant volumes of liquidity to the banking sector, since major financial stress began to become evident in autumn 2007. the eurosystem entered this crisis with a relatively broad collateral framework for supplying liquidity to banks. it has made its liquidity more easily accessible for banks by widening