NAMA board members are to receive higher fees for their work than originally planned, it was confirmed yesterday.
Chairman Frank Daly is to get a 70% rise in his salary up to €170,000 from €100,000. The other six members of the board will receive a 32% increase in their fees, from €38,000 to €50,000.
The figures were confirmed by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan in reply to a Dáil question from Sinn Féin’s finance spokesman Arthur Morgan. The board was announced on December 22.
The minister said the increases reflect the heavy workload members will face in the first year.
Opposition spokesmen said the increases were a further slap in the face to taxpayers.
Meanwhile, claims that the new financial regulator has been engaged in a sharp exchange of words with some members of the Dáil and Seanad have not been denied by the financial regulator.
Brian Lucey, associate professor of Finance at Trinity College, said he understands the financial regulator was heavily rebuffed by some of the members of the Dáil and Seanad when he inquired about loans they had with the banks that were transferring to NAMA in the months ahead.
Prof Lucey said the basis of his allegation came from within the Oireachtas. "I got this from a Dáil source", he told the Irish Examiner.
The public is entitled to know if TDs or senators have loans of "mortgages" that are part of the funds being transferred across to NAMA, he said. The first tranche of loans totalling €17bn is due to transfer to the bad bank by the end of the month.
Reports of the standoff with regulator Matthew Enderfield come days after he gave his first public speech. He promised an intrusive approach to regulation and enforcement at systemically important banks.
Banks can now expect 15-20 regulatory staff per bank looking at their operations, analysts said.
Prof Lucey told RTÉ it was "always going to be the case in a small country that there are political figures involved in banking".
His information was some TDs and senators reacted negatively to a line of enquiry being pursued with the members committee in the Oireachtas.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, March 13, 2010
