Financial capability in Ireland: qualitative research

The Financial Regulator was established in May 2003, with a mandate to help consumers to be better informed about financial matters and to regulate the activities of financial services firms in Ireland.

PFRC was commissioned by the Financial Regulator to carry out qualitative research prior to a planned full-scale national survey of financial capability in Ireland. The aims of the research were to:

• To establish the key elements of financial capability in the Irish context.
• To examine the extent to which these elements are reflected in the existing UK financial capability baseline survey, originally designed by PFRC for the Financial Services Authority.

The research consisted of two phases:

1. Moderation of one expert group and four consumer groups, exploring the opinions of both consumers and experts to capture the factors they consider important in measuring financial capability.
2. 18 in-depth consumer interviews to be carried out with respondents who attended the focus groups.

The research was completed at the end of 2006.