We here at Public Inquiry have always treated the so called Financial Regulator with well deserved contempt. It’s an organisation that claims to work in the best interests of the consumer but in reality does no such thing.
The ‘Wild West’ financial sector of Ireland is, by far, the most corrupt in the Western world and yet not a single institution or individual has ever been investigated, never mind actually charged, by the police.
But the financial tsunami sweeping the globe has had the positive effect of stripping away all the bluff and bluster that covers the rot at the core of Irish financial regulation. The international community is beginning to see Ireland for what it really is, a corrupt banana republic pretending to be a modern democratic state.
Sean Fitzpatrick’s dirty little secret is just the latest example of how rotten the whole system really is and Neary’s ‘the dog ate my homework’ excuse for the debacle is a pathetic example of a cowardly civil servant rushing to protect his generous pension and massive golden handshake.
“So far as I am concerned, I was not advised of any such matters in early 2008 and there has been no oral, written or e-mail escalation of these issues to me or to the authority over the period until the matter was raised with me by the Minister on 10th December, 2008,” (Irish Times).
For good measure Neary throws in the by now standard missing letter/file and pressure of work excuses. The committee that ‘investigated’ the scandal made the usual mindless recommendations about reviewing staff requirements and examining loans to directors in more detail.
So, can the people of Ireland finally expect protection from the vermin that infest the financial sector when the new Financial Regulator is appointed? No, because the political system that created the financial regulatory system is itself corrupt and, as has become abundantly clear in recent times, does not act in the interest of the people.
Copy to:
Financial Regulator
I don’t agree with your interpretation in relation to Patrick Neary debacle. It is a disgrace the regulator allowed and allows high powered banking individuals who should be in compliance to the Company Law and Financial Regulations to abuse the systems under their control. For that alone he should leave. That said, Patrick Neary had and has little impact on the process, and considering he was up for retirement, leaving the regulator now doesn’t solve the problem. Patrick Brady was the individual who installed Basle II, and should have known and have knowledge now of what the individuals at board level have been doing. A very simple exercise of review on all the directors of the banking community can be done to immeidately highlight any lack of compliance to the standard requirements and any failure to report their interests.
The old dog of calling the Irish market as the ‘Wild West’ financial sector, really is inappropriate and reckless, and describing Ireland as the worst just does not stand up to scrutiny. The US/UK bank led financial crisis, with obvious abuse of all known regulation, standards and responsibilities is at the core of this problem. Banks have been untouchable for years in Ireland. When the banks lending policies were obviously defying commonsense, it was only a matter of time when the boom would burst. The shareholders of banks have enjoyed the wealth created by the greedy bank practices for years. It is fraudulent to suggest by Sean Fitzpatrick that Shareholders have been abused, as none were seen during the 10 years of boom times complaining about the bank practices. All enjoyed the wealth, and the greed blinded all to any due diligence, review and control. There needs to be a clean sweep to old traditions of capital control, debt management and restrictions on volume growth. The significant volume of employees working hard to survive and maintain the financial services industry in Ireland can’t be tarred with the same brush as those few in power who corrupted the process. The banking sector needs to fund the new challenges to the regulator to bring reputation and stability back to the Irish market, and remove any doubt internationally that Ireland is qaulity financial service market.
This crisis is a global issue, and Irelands role in it is arguably negligible considering the extroardinary closures and losses in US and UK. It’s a severe lesson to us all to controll the greed required by shareholders to keep returning year on year profits. To ensure transparency in company reporting, to ensure both auditors and regulators as the watchdogs, do their job!
Like many others Mark you are using the global crisis as an excuse to deny the reality of what we are as a nation.
Ireland is unique in the Western world in its complete tolerance of very serious criminal activity in the financial and political sectors.
Indeed, I don’t even know of any Third World country that allows such criminal activity as a matter of course.