is. and i am proud of where we are. from a gender perspective, we strongly outperform both the financial services sector, the public sector and european peers, in terms of seniority and pay, from the board ( our commission ) down through our executive and senior leadership levels, there is a very healthy balance. more than one third of our board are women, as are 40 % of our executive committee, and 43 % of our leadership team ( head of function and above ). 4 our ambition is to go further, and there is much more work to be done in the central bank. we have dedicated resources to improve our approach to d & i across the bank, and have established parents and carers, bankability and the rainbow networks running alongside the women ’ s network. why? there is a plethora of research that a more diverse and inclusive workplace can better enable the central bank to fulfil its mission and vision of ‘ safeguarding stability, protecting consumers ’ and of being ‘ trusted by the public, respected by our peers, and a fulfilling workplace for our people ’. as stated by governor philip lane during a speech at the european financial forum two weeks ago, “ we see diversity and inclusion as vital to ensuring we have the right mix of people to deliver our complex and diverse mandate and that all our people have the chance to reach their potential. ” 5 the research has shown that having diverse teams can improve the quality of decisionmaking6 at all organisational levels, reduce groupthink7and allow assumptions to be challenged more effectively8. heterogeneous teams are, on average, better than homogeneous teams on creative and complex problems9. they increase the number of perspectives, provide better understanding of customer needs and flex management approaches. in a diverse and inclusive workplace, there is greater potential for internal crowd sourcing of ideas, innovation, challenging of ideas, and refining ideas in real time10. research based on mathematical models and social experiments, demonstrates how diversity can trump ability in group decision - making processes11. diversity has been found to reduce the average error in decisions12. it has been found, that the more variation in the pool, the better the 2 / 7 bis central bankers'speeches selective process13, which is key to reducing groupthink. the more diverse a team, the more likely its predictive capability in the face of uncertainty14. the 2016 empowering productivity report, which was sponsored by the uk treasury and the bank of england

central bank of ireland. at esma we are actively taking steps to address a potential vulnerability, namely the disconnect between a fund's name, a critical aspect for a retail investor when determining whether or not to invest, and the disclosures required in the eu sustainable finance disclosures regulation. in due course, the european commission look likely to further consider the introduction of a labelling regime for investment products in this area. that is something which we would be supportive of. closer to home, at the central bank, we have also taken steps to provide clarity in terms of disclosure expectations. that includes recently hosting a workshop with industry representatives where participants were able to exchange views on the disclosures required under the sfdr and how standards could be raised across the sector. in due course, following further engagement with the sector, the central bank will provide further clarifications to ensure these disclosures best serve the end investor. conclusion 4 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches as regulators, we serve the public interest by maintaining monetary and financial stability while ensuring that the financial system operates in the best interests of consumers and the wider economy. in order to achieve this mission, we must continue to strengthen the resilience of financial markets and address areas of potential vulnerability. however, we also support other policy makers in identifying and addressing areas of fragmentation or other inhibitors which hamper the development of deeper capital markets. that is because consumer participation in investment products and financial markets can have a positive impact on the consumer's financial wellbeing, and as a result, their overall wellbeing. thank you. 1 see imf background note on cmu for eurogroup, dated 15 june 2023. 2 see : bain ( 2023 ) global private equity report 2023. 3 see financial integration and structure in the euro area, april 2022 ( ecb ). 4 see mckinsey ( 2023 ) private markets annual review. 5 for example, this includes the prospectus regulation, transparency directive, market abuse directive and exchange listing rules 6 see fsb chair's letter to g20 leaders : september 2023. 5 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches