Can the Compliance Function in Irish Banking post the 2008 Financial Crisis do what it is being asked to do?

Abstract

Extant scholarly literature has not examined the compliance function in Irish banking as a standalone subject. The aim of this thesis is to understand how compliance functions in Irish banking since the 2008 Irish Financial Crisis, as well as the phenomena that have impacted it and confirm if the compliance function can do what it is being asked to do. The 2008 Irish Financial Crisis was the catalyst that transformed the compliance function’s trajectory in Irish banking from operational to incorporating regulatory compliance, as a result of the reforms the Irish and the European banking regulators enacted. Compliance affects every bank’s customers.
The qualitative approach in this thesis is an interpretative phenomenological analysis, incorporating the philosophical assumptions of Gadamer’s hermeneutic phenomenology, which offer insight into how to develop a deep understanding of a phenomenon and the conditions by which understanding takes place. The objective of this thesis was to generate new insights from the lived realities of the participants who had interacted with compliance during their respective careers. These new insights grounded in the data generated by this thesis contribute to a new understanding of the compliance function in Irish banking since 2008.
This thesis contributes to knowledge and to the on-going process of understanding the compliance function following the tradition of hermeneutic phenomenology. The thesis gives a perspective on the dynamics and changes that are occurring and impacting the compliance function. It gives an appreciation of the issues confronting compliance teams in Irish banking resulting from the proliferation of regulation since 2008. The thesis identifies the challenges the compliance function has to face, and the adaptions that have to be made by compliance teams to keep up with these changes. The data generated by this thesis encapsulates the critical skills such as IT literacy, leadership and legal, which a compliance officer needs today and are integral to the compliance function in Irish banks.

Date of Award	21 Nov 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Northumbria University
Supervisor	Jonathan Bainbridge (Supervisor), William Johnston (Supervisor) & Elaine Hall (Supervisor)