back to the ecb. at a more informal level, communication is facilitated by frequent contact between bank staff and market participants and i would encourage you to contact the central bank with your views on any notable market developments. the variety and type of assets acceptable as eligible collateral in eurosystem credit operations is also currently under review by the eurosystem. following a public consultation process the governing council decided, in may of last year, to replace the current two - tier collateral system with a single list of collateral. this move, which will take place on a gradual basis, aims to reduce the diversity of the assets currently eligible as tier - two, thereby enhancing the transparency of the overall collateral framework. the first step towards establishing the single list comes into force at the end of may and involves the inclusion of euro - denominated assets from issuers in major markets outside the european economic area ( for example, euro bonds of us issuers ) and the phasing out over time of some tier - two collateral, for example equities. as a second step, the governing council has approved, in principle, the inclusion in the single list of bank loans from all euro - area countries and mortgage - backed promissory notes which were specially developed for irish market conditions. i am particularly pleased at the retention of mortgage - backed promissory notes as this represents a positive result of a great deal of work undertaken by the bank's representatives at eurosystem level. in terms of market functioning, we particularly welcome the aci initiative that is aimed at integrating the short - term securities markets across the euro - area. supported by the ecb, this should soon see the issuance of short - term securities under the imprimatur of the aci step committee. along with a small number of other euro - area national central banks, the bank will contribute to the process of granting the step label, in our case for assets originating in ireland and in some other jurisdictions. eu financial integration turning now to eu financial integration. the eu policy framework for achieving greater financial integration is through regulation, supervision and financial infrastructure. in relation to regulation and supervision, while the single market was established in 1992, it was only in 1999, with the drafting of the financial services action plan ( fsap ), that a concerted effort was made to break down the barriers to the provision of pan - european financial services. the plan has led to the adoption of almost 42 community measures which cover banking,

sharon donnery : financial markets and institutions - collaboration and knowledge dissemination welcome address by ms sharon donnery, deputy governor ( central banking ) of the central bank of ireland, at the policy research meeting on financial markets and institutions, dublin, 15 june 2017. * * * good morning to you all and a very warm welcome to our new campus here at north wall quay in dublin. our official opening took place in late april, with staff on the ground since january, so you really have come here at a time of renewal and great excitement for us as an institution. i hope that you enjoy your time here. we are delighted to be welcoming such an eminent group of speakers to the bank today. i would particularly like to thank our colleagues from the federal reserve who first initiated this event, which has been running since 2012 with previous workshops having taken place in turkey, luxembourg, the netherlands, belgium, rome and stockholm, along with the proceedings in helsinki earlier this week. special thanks also to wayne passmore and scott frame who have provided the impetus, helped shape the program, and ensured the participation of such a distinguished group of speakers from across the federal reserve system. cross - institution collaboration and knowledge dissemination is of critical importance in central banking. the coming together of people with a rigorous background in empirical research, yet with such a keen focus on the ways in which research, data analytics, empirical evidence and policy decision making are interwoven is fundamental to the development of evidence based policymaking. this is entirely consistent with the type of working environment that we continually strive to develop here at the central bank of ireland. i hope that we will all leave here tomorrow having learned a great deal. i am impressed by the breadth of topics being discussed over the two days of this event. the discussions about the implementation and effects of unconventional monetary policy are taking place at a historic time for central banks. the differing paths faced by the united states and euro area economies over the past half - decade mean that we find ourselves at an extremely interesting juncture. a stock - take of the effectiveness of unconventional policy, the risks associated with tapering and the differing experiences in the american and european systems is highly important for the calibration and effectiveness of monetary policy on both sides of the atlantic. at the nexus between unconventional monetary easing and the legacy impairments of the previous crisis lies the issue of bank profitability, which will be the subject of a session that i will chair later this morning. given my work on the issue of