Vasileios Madouros: Ireland's role as a growing financial centre in Europe

Remarks by Mr Vasileios Madouros, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, at the Federation of International Banks in Ireland's (FIBI) annual conference, Dublin, 20 November 2024.

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

Good morning everyone.

It is a pleasure to join you this morning for FIBI's annual conference.

I know that much of today's focus will on the outlook for the global banking sector and financial regulation, amid a shifting geo-economic environment.

And that context matters for Ireland, of course: we are a small, highly-globalized economy, with a large, outward-focused financial sector.

But for today's remarks I thought I would take a step back from near-term economic developments and regulatory initiatives.

And, instead, take a longer-term perspective, to consider the trends and implications of the evolution of the financial sector in Ireland.

In fact, I think that "evolution" is somewhat of an understatement. Over the past four decades, the Irish financial system has transformed.

From a relatively homogeneous, largely domestically-focused sector, into a growing, diverse and internationally-connected financial centre, in Europe and globally.

Different facets of the changing Irish financial sector

So let me start with some of the key facts. There are several different dimensions to how the Irish financial system has changed over the past few decades.