derville rowland : building trust in central banks and regulatory authorities remarks by ms derville rowland, deputy governor of the central bank of ireland, at the department of public expenditure and reform's annual management conference, dublin, 18 july 2024. * * * good morning everybody. it is a genuine pleasure to be here, to say a few words, but also – much more importantly – to listen and learn. as i will note shortly, we have closely studied the oecd's excellent work, undertaken in conjunction with the department of public expenditure and reform, on drivers of trust in government, as detailed just now by the last presenter. and it strikes me that, through the public service transformation framework, the department of public expenditure and reform is leading the way on one of the key drivers – by delivering demonstrably better public services for citizens. 1 on the issue of trust specifically, i oversee a programme of work in the central bank – open & engaged – that seeks to enhance our engagement with external stakeholders, demonstrate increased transparency and accountability and, in turn, increase trust. it's important i emphasise that i am not an expert in the topic of trust. rather, we are working closely with persons who are experts, seeking to understand what truly drives trust in central banks and regulatory bodies – a question which is relatively underdeveloped in the research literature. i will give a brief overview of the work we are undertaking, the issues we are considering, and our intended outcomes. some of you might recognise what i hold in my hand. currency is one of the central bank's statutory functions, managing the supply of official tender, issuing new notes and destroying old and damaged ones. this is a block of shredded euro notes – about €30, 000 worth of notes, give or take. if i were patrick kielty, i'd say there was one for everybody in the audience – but of course, this money is utterly useless in its shredded form. by contrast, a €10 note, can be used to buy €10 worth of goods or services. the question is why. of course, it's intact – but that's only the starting point. it's just a piece of cotton - fibre paper, after all – albeit one made with special inks and security features. 2 money works because people believe its value will be honoured. in short, it works on trust. 1 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches and that trust under

with the public – be it a public or private body ; be it the central bank or one of the firms we regulate – the core requirements is to do its job well, serve the public well, and demonstrate as much in an open, transparent and engaged way. 2 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches which brings me to our updated communications & engagement strategy, and open & engaged charter. our communications & engagement strategy places a much greater emphasis on engagement with external stakeholders. we were influenced greatly by the iap2 ( international association for public participation ) spectrum of citizen engagement, as cited in the department's own work on this issue. 7 at one end of the spectrum, as you know, is " telling " – one - way communication of key messages. historically, the central bank was good at that. we were not so good as you moved further up the spectrum towards genuine two - way engagement – listening as well as telling, and accepting informed views when and where relevant. we had made progress on this since the lessons of the financial crisis, and the communications & engagement strategy seeks to build on this progress. it has four key pillars, namely : culture - we emphasise our communications and engagement culture, working with our people to drive enhanced engagement. dialogue - we emphasise dialogue in our communications and engagement activities. we actively listen, and, where appropriate, reflect community perspectives in our work. reach - we expand our reach and impact by building relations with a wider range of stakeholders, including the public, participants in the real economy, our international peers. insight - we measure the impact and outcomes of our communications and engagement. we adjust and improve based on what we learn. the strategy is rooted in the premise that communication and engagement is a task for the whole bank, guided by our values. we have distilled the strategy into a one - page open & engaged charter – effectively our commitment to our stakeholders. as the governor has noted, " we're seeking to understand and be understood ". implementation of the strategy and charter are still in relative infancy. but we hope – and expect – that our stakeholders will see and feel the change in our engagement in the time ahead. so we seek to deliver on our mandate – and we seek to engage effectively on it – and in doing so, demonstrate trustworthiness. the key question is, will that deliver on our objective of building trust? let's be clear : collectively, we are fighting incredible headwinds on this