Work Programme

Customer

Staff

A core part of the IBCB’s work is to assess and measure progress on behaviour and cultural change across the Irish banking sector. We continue to engage in research and assessment with bank customers, staff and wider stakeholders through our éist surveys. The surveys are published under the banner ‘éist’ which means listen in the Irish language.

The results of our surveys are an opportunity for both the IBCB and member banks to listen to and act on the feedback from customers and staff, in order to improve culture. The findings of these surveys are the basis for the initiatives and activities within our Work Programme. To read our most recent surveys, please go to the Publications sections of our website.

Our priorities for 2024 include the findings and results of the éist 2023 Public Trust in Banking survey and the éist 2023 Staff Culture survey which will inform our Work Programme for the coming 12 months and onwards.

SEAR

The Senior Executive Accountability Regime (SEAR) Individual accountability is a cornerstone of positive behaviour and culture. The IBCB and each of our member banks are strong advocates for the introduction of an effective accountability regime in Ireland, similar to that in operation in other jurisdictions, and this will be a priority area of focus for us.

2023

The IBCB welcomes the Individual Accountability Framework (IAF) which was signed into law in March 2023. The IBCB responded to the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI)’s consultation on the legislation – please see our response here.

An important aspect of the IAF is the conduct standards, including the obligation to act with honestly & integrity and acting appropriately in any decision making. The IBCB launched their new ethics page which includes ethical decision making tools and resources which can support meeting these obligations. The IBCB will continue to work with our member banks in relation to the IAF and particularly in the context of the conduct standards, to support the consistent demonstration of the behaviours of acting with honesty and integrity.

2021

We were pleased to see the publication of the heads of bill for the SEAR (Senior Executive Accountability Regime) legislation in summer 2021. We established a SEAR working group which first met in May 2021 to discuss the forthcoming legislation and lessons which could be learned from the experience of other countries, in particular that of the UK and Australia.

In October 2021, the IBCB responded with a submission for the Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Central Bank (Individual Accountability Framework) Bill 2021 to the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. Individual accountability is a cornerstone of positive behaviour and culture.