Financial enforcer vacancy rate at Central Bank 'deeply concerning'

The vacancy rate at the Central Bank’s enforcement division has increased four-fold to 25% in the last six months.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan yesterday confirmed the statistic as of the end of April.

It compares to a vacancy rate of 6.3% last November.

However, the vacancy rate is down on a peak level in June of last year of 40%, where out of 50 positions, 20 were unfilled.

Mr Noonan said: “The division is currently in the midst of a recruitment campaign aiming to fill a number of these vacancies at varying levels of experience.

“The Central Bank has informed me that at the end of April 2016, the enforcement division had 53.8 active staff, out of a complement of 71.5.

“This equates to 75% of their target complement.

“The enforcement division is multi-disciplinary and uses a wide range of powers to investigate cases across the financial services sector.

“The allocation of staff within the division to cases will depend on the requirements for each case.”

Fianna Fáil’s spokesman on finance Michael McGrath yesterday said it is “deeply concerning that so many positions at the Central Bank’s enforcement unit remain vacant”.

“In view of the regulatory breaches that contributed to a very costly banking crisis in the past decade, it is deeply concerning that so many positions remain vacant,” he said, adding: “In sectors such as insurance, banking and moneylending, strong regulation must be matched by rigorous enforcement so as to protect consumers and ensure adequate deterrents are in place for errant financial service providers.”