If you believe there is scope for the financial services sector in Ireland to serve society better, then this is an event for you, because it’s all about galvanising support for positive, progressive and purposeful finance reform. 

If you know about problems around market conduct that need fixing then, please do all you can to participate – we want to hear from you. 

Furthermore, if you have ideas about what can be done to make a positive difference, then it’s vital you get involved. 

We know there are many great ideas that can help drive the transformational change; and we want to shine a big bright light on those ideas. 

There are many important questions that need to be dealt with, such as:

• Do the financial regulators in Ireland have sufficient powers to properly govern the sector?
• If they do have sufficient powers, are those powers being used effectively?
• If not, is regulatory capture a factor? 
• Are vested interests getting in the way of consumers getting good outcomes?
• Are technology innovations being ignored, because they challenge vested interests and the status quo?
• Are the public finding it easy to get the information they need to make well-informed decisions?
• Are class actions having to fill the void created by ineffective regulatory enforcement?
• Are the fiduciary standard and best interest rules working as intended?
• Has the Friedmanite idea of “maximising profit in the short term” spoiled the culture in financial services?
• What are the underlying forces driving poor market conduct?
• Should there be a “Financial Consumers Bill of Rights” to protect consumer interests?

These are the types of questions and issues that impact the public’s perceptions of the financial services sector, which has been riddled with various types of malpractice, malfeasance, misconduct and mis-selling for many years; not just in Ireland but in most parts of the world. 

Clearly, the reputational integrity of the sector has been badly damaged. That’s why the Transparency Task Force is initiating and facilitating a global conversation about what’s wrong in financial services; and what needs to be done to fix it. 

Furthermore, through those discussions we are creating a framework for finance reform that is designed to drive the positive, progressive and purposeful change that is needed.