We have gone through the trauma of a balance-of-payments crisis in the early 1990s and we cannot ignore the threat to economic sovereignty if we take undue risks. Fourth, and most important, price stability is critical to the economy as a whole, to both the poor and exporters.
As I have described already, my vision for the Irish financial services sector is that it is well managed, well regulated and sustainably serves the needs of the economy and its consumers over the long term. In this context, when the Central Bank assesses the firms we regulate, we are essentially looking at four objectives from a prudential supervision perspective. Regulated firms should: 1.