believe it is something that we need to be mindful of, particularly in ireland. whether it is because or despite of the long history between ireland and the uk, our regulatory philosophies, approaches and thinking are usually aligned. london ’ s role as the pre - eminent financial centre in europe results in more than a hub for trading and finance, but also a hub for the regulation of those activities. the loss of this voice is to be mourned. it is important that the eu27 tries to fill any gaps in regulatory expertise where possible. at the central bank we understand that the uk ’ s departure will require increased engagement on our part in the relevant eu and international fora, to convey our viewpoint and add our own expertise to the mix. we have consistently and successfully been making a substantial effort in this regard since the crisis, including trying to bring the very painful lessons learned from the crisis here to a wider audience and in an attempt to prevent such an event from happening again. we will continue to prioritise our largely invisible work in this regard. 9 / 11 bis central bankers'speeches conclusions i will conclude by emphasising some of my key messages : firstly, the decision by the uk to leave the european union is one that will have knock - on effects for years, even decades, to come. for ireland these effects are largely going to be negative and deeply profound, notwithstanding that there will be significant growth in the size, scale and complexity of the irish financial system. secondly, regardless of the outcome of the political discussions, there will be significant changes to the financial services system, and the regulatory and supervisory frameworks, in both europe and in ireland. it is important that the eu financial system continues to embrace integration with the broader global financial system, even as the uk departs it. thirdly, as regulators, we see enormous challenges ahead, both for ourselves and for the firms that we supervise. what is concerning to me is that this view does not appear to be shared by everyone. we recently wrote to all the insurance companies that we supervise to ask them about their brexit preparations. of the 197 responses we received, 38 companies deemed that brexit would have a high impact on their business model and 12 a medium impact. the remaining 147 – almost three quarters – think brexit will have little or no impact on them. given the level of uncertainty and the range of challenges we have heard about today, this is an astounding number.

expectations through the bank ’ s strong commitment and intelligible explanation. and lastly, we should enter a new phase of monetary easing both in terms of quantity and quality in order to underpin such a commitment. there is a reason to emphasize the qualitative aspect of monetary easing along with its quantitative aspect. while the bank of japan and other central banks in advanced economies have almost exhausted further declines in short - term interest rates, they now engage in policies to increase the size of their balance sheets as part of unconventional policy measures. there is now a broad consensus with regard to the effect of balance sheet expansion. that is, the central banks ’ purchases of government bonds and other assets from the markets have the effect of encouraging further declines in long - term interest rates and lowering risk premia of asset prices by absorbing risks – such as the one stemming from interest rate fluctuations. consequently, it becomes important to determine not only how much liquidity to supply but also how to supply that quantity. even with the same amount of liquidity, purchasing short - term t - bills produces different effects than in the case where the bank purchases other assets such as long - term bis central bankers ’ speeches jgbs and risk assets like exchange - traded funds ( etfs ). thus, it is important to work on two aspects of monetary easing, both in terms of quantity and quality. ii. introduction of the “ quantitative and qualitative monetary easing ” with this basic set of views, i assumed the governorship and attended the monetary policy meeting on april 3 and 4. following discussion with other policy board members and taking into account the staff view regarding practicalities, we came to a conclusion. the name of the quantitative and qualitative monetary easing that we introduced this time speaks for itself. this is indeed a new phase of monetary easing both in terms of quantity and quality. strong and clear commitment first, the bank decided – as i mentioned earlier – to convey a strong and clear commitment. the bank clearly announced in a statement that “ [ it ] will achieve the price stability target of 2 percent in terms of the year - on - year rate of change in the consumer price index ( cpi ) at the earliest possible time, with a time horizon of about two years. ” this is the decision of the bank ’ s policy board – namely, it expresses the will of the bank as an institution. new phase of monetary easing both in terms of quantity and quality next, the bank decided to embark on the quantitative