Medium-Term Prospects for the Irish Financial System

This article presents an overview of the important issues that face Ireland's financial sector in the medium term. Previous related studies include the work of, amongst others, McGowan (1990), McKillip and Hutchinson (1992), Dowling (1996), Hutchinson (1996, 1999a,b) and Llewellyn (1999). The next section reviews the early operation of the euro and describes the medium-term prospects for monetary, exchange rate and financial policies in the Eurosystem. Section 3 discusses the prospects for financial markets and institutions in Ireland. It discusses, in turn, the money, foreign exchange, bond, equity and over-the-counter (OTC) markets, and it also discusses the important institutions including the banks, the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE), and the IFSC. Section 4 looks at regulatory issues, and includes an analysis of the emerging new international financial architecture along with the proposed single regulatory authority for Ireland. The final section summarises this article and draws together the conclusions.