Dr. Jim Stewart:

As I think the Governor has said before this committee, the Central Bank is not responsible for regulating section 110 firms. One might say it should be made responsible but currently it is not. There is a kind of gap here because who is actually responsible for regulating section 110 firms? It seems to fall between a number of different stools. Again, the problem really relates to the huge size and range of activities being performed in the IFSC. It would take a huge amount of resources to properly regulate all these activities, so that is an issue. Maybe the issue would be more appropriately tackled at an EU level if the ECB or some other agency became responsible for regulating financial firms. The EU is moving in this sort of direction.