An exploration of the new Code of Corporate Governance for Credit Institutions and Insurance Undertakings in Ireland

In late 2010 the Central Bank of Ireland issued codes of corporate governance for credit institutions and insurance undertakings.This marked a significant development in corporate governance in Ireland being the only country in the EU that did not have its own codes of corporate governance for credit institutions and insurance undertakings.This research has four main areas of investigation. Firstly it assesses the corporate governance of banks in Ireland before the introduction of the new codes. Secondly in light of the financial crisis, it analyses the corporate governance disclosures in annual reports from 2005-2011 to assess how well the banks complied with the previous codes on paper and in practice. Thirdly it analyses the level of compliance with the new code since January 1st 2011. Fourthly it compares the new codes of corporate governance with practices in other countries. The main method used to investigate the research topic is secondary data analysis. This is complemented by primary research involving structured interviews. The findings show serious breaches of corporate governance within banks led to the financial crisis and the annual reports were not were not a true reflection of the governance practices. The research finds faults with the Irish code and makes suggestions for further development