Auditor regulators ‘will not reopen banks probe’

The regulatory board overseeing auditors has signalled it will not reopen its investigation into the quality of audits of banks just before the crash, despite damning criticism from the judge who yesterday jailed three banking executives.

The Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board last September completed an independent five-year investigation — at a cost of €1.33m — into the auditors, and concluded that the standard applied by external auditors was “found wanting”, but that the external audits themselves were generally of a high standard.

Judge Martin Nolan said it beggared belief that Anglo’s auditors Ernst&Young (now EY) had signed off on Anglo’s end-of-year accounts.