Sharon Donnery: Macroprudential Policy in the Irish Mortgage Market - Taking Stock

Remarks delivered virtually by Ms Sharon Donnery, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, at Bank of Lithuania Macroprudential policy conference 2021, 5 October 2021.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to be with you today to speak about the important topic of macroprudential regulation in the mortgage market, a topic that has grown hugely in importance to central banks in Europe since the global financial crisis, and one that is core to the mission of the Central Bank of Ireland. Today, I want to share with you our experience of the measures to date, including during the recent pandemic stress, and how we are now taking stock, listening to experiences and ensuring the framework is robust, balanced and effective in serving the public in an evolving real estate market.

The measures – a recent history

One of our key goals in the Central Bank of Ireland is to safeguard financial stability – ensuring that the financial system can absorb, rather than amplify, adverse shocks, and that banks can continue to serve households and businesses through times of stress. Simply put, our approach to meet this goal is to build resilience when times are good, so that this resilience can be drawn upon when times are bad. The active use of macroprudential policies, including our mortgage measures, is key to meeting this goal.

The slides can be found on the Bank of Ireland website