Regulator’s report - We need simple rules, huge fines

THOUGH the Financial Regulator yesterday wrapped himself, metaphorically and partially, in sackcloth and ashes, it is difficult to overlook the impact that office’s failure has had on our society and economy.

Launching his office’s report for 2008, chairman Jim Farrell admitted that the watchdog “did too little, too late to cushion the blow of the global recession on Ireland”. The “too little, too late” part covered it all really, everything else was less than graceful. What the Irish Regulator could have done to control international affairs is as big a mystery as why it did so little to control the casinos masquerading as banks in this “Wild West” of European finance.

What a pity that the Regulator is still pointing fingers at things outside his control, especially as the courts reveal, almost on a daily basis, the kind of Klondyke grab-fest that had taken hold of Irish bankers right under the Regulator’s nose.