within firms, as well as providing for an enhanced fitness and probity regime and a unified enforcement process. i appreciate the committee is holding separate hearings on these recommendations. looking at the pcp market, staff from the central bank published an overview in an economic letter last year. data to the end of june 2018 show 69, 668 outstanding pcp contracts ( with a total value of €1, 243 million ) provided by banks. as part of the central bank ’ s central credit register ( ccr ) remit, from 30 june 2019, the ccr will collect information on personal contract plans from all lenders that provide loans. we are working on additional measures to strengthen consumer protection in the licensed moneylending sector. in 2018, we published the ‘ review of the consumer protection code for licensed moneylenders consultation paper cp 118 ’, which proposed adding certain consumer protection measures to this code in order to raise the standard of consumer protection, while recognising the specific nature of the sector. we plan to introduce regulations to replace the current moneylending code in the second half of 2019. in developing these additional measures, we recognise the vulnerability of the households that typically engage with licensed moneylenders and the high cost of moneylending loans. resilience – capital requirements, interest rates and npls a core element of our strategic plan is to ensure that the financial system is resilient, so that it can withstand future shocks and protect the wider economy from financial instability. the first set of issues you invited me to address – capital requirements, interest rates and npls – can all be captured under this objective. in terms of capital, the domestic banking system is far more resilient than in the past. its capital position ( relative to risk - weighted assets ) has improved almost threefold relative to 2007. reliance on short - term wholesale funding from international capital markets has declined. the domestic banking system is now primarily funded by domestic customer deposits. 2 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches funding costs have declined and remain contained, despite recent market volatility. the central bank has also introduced a range of macroprudential measures that aim to build resilience in the system. as mentioned above, these include the mortgage measures designed to enhance both bank and borrower resilience and mitigate the risks of credit - house price spirals emerging. the countercyclical capital buffer ( ccyb ) – set at one percent with effect from july 2019

. last month, we published a progress report provided to the minister for finance. today, we can provide a further update to the committee based on end - december information. the end - 2017 figures show that lenders have been forced to pay €316 million in redress and compensation. more will follow, as the remainder of the 33, 700 customers that were denied tracker products or charged the wrong rates receive redress and compensation and as claims submitted to the independent appeals processes are adjudicated2. when we last appeared before you, we outlined the phased structure of the examination and that lenders had submitted their phase 2 reports. we made clear we regarded certain reports to be 1 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches deficient. in particular, we said that certain lenders had left out groups of customers whom, in our view, had been affected by their failures and were therefore entitled to redress and compensation. we emphasised that we would robustly challenge any such deficiency as we moved through our assurance work. in that work, we scrutinised lenders ’ reports, undertook on - site inspections, hauled in lenders ’ senior management and impressed on them the need to take a consumer - focused approach in complying with the examination. the result of this intensive engagement is that the issues around the inclusion of disputed groups of customers identified to that point have now been resolved to the satisfaction of the central bank. as a result of our challenge, there has been a large increase in the numbers of customers between october last and today who will be included in redress and compensation schemes – a further 13, 600 customers. in short, the examination is delivering for consumers. i wish to acknowledge the work of this committee and the minister of finance & public expenditure and reform in shining the public spotlight on those lenders involved in the examination, adding to the sustained pressure we have exerted on the lenders since the outset. like any regulator, the central bank is limited by law in the amount of information we can publicly disclose about any regulated financial institution. much of the pressure we exert on lenders in order to protect consumers must necessarily be done in private until outcomes are final and announced. of the initial group of 13, 000 customers accepted by lenders up to end - september last, 74 % have now received their redress and compensation. the majority of the outstanding customers will receive theirs between now and end - march, with the remainder receiving payment by endjune. €181