The Financial Regulator was established on 1 May 2003 following a government decision to set up the Central Bank of Ireland as the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland.
The structure combines two distinct component entities - the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator – each with its own particular set of responsibilities and each with its own specific governance structure.
The Central Bank’s responsibilties include surveillance of the strengths and vulnerabilities of the overall economy and financial system.
The Financial Regulator’s remit includes monitoring the financial soundness of individual institutions, in addition to wide-ranging consumer protection powers.
The legal structure of the Financial Regulator and Central Bank requires the sharing of corporate resources and other support services of the single legal organisation including manpower, technology, accommodation, corporate services, statistics and internal audit. This sharing of resources and services achieves savings and efficiencies by avoiding unnecessary duplication of support services and corporate infrastructure.
In his budget speech of 7 April 2009, the Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, announced a new institutional structure to replace the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland as it currently exists.
The role of the Central Bank of Ireland will be reformed to place it at the centre of financial supervision and financial stability oversight, providing for full integration and co-ordination of the prudential supervision and stability of individual financial institutions with that of the financial system as a whole. The Central Bank of Ireland will in the future be headed by a Commission, chaired by the Governor.