A wide range of issues/themes are covered in the Central Bank of Ireland’s first ‘Securities Markets Risk Outlook Report 2021’ issued today.   For context, the Central Bank is now responsible for supervising an increasingly complex and sophisticated securities markets industry in Ireland as a result of Brexit, which includes market infrastructure and trading platforms.  

Two particular themes that caught my eye are:

• Misconduct risk – the Central Bank expects firms to identify, mitigate and manage misconduct risk, with a particular focus on the risk of market abuse
• Governance – the Central Bank has noted that governance arrangements must be fit for purpose and properly resourced, in particular as businesses expand or change

On market abuse, the Central Bank flagged that it plans to finalise the supervisory reviews that it launched in 2020 on compliance with the Market Abuse Regulation, and will take appropriate action based on the findings of those reviews. 

So, watch this space…   

Colm Kincaid: “Our work programme for 2021 will….reflect this risk outlook and the expectations we are setting today. Firms can expect us to challenge them on these expectations throughout 2021 and beyond…”

https://www.centralbank.ie/news/article/press-release-securities-markets-risk-outlook-report-2021-8-february-2021