Whistleblower. Something truly rotten in the banking sector. Silence from our politicians!!!

[Newsy]

Credit to bokonon for finding this.....hope you don't mind me for giving it a thread of it's own. This is massive.

Whistleblower.....


Ireland is having relinquish its hard-fought sovereignty as a result of a complete breakdown of banking law enforcement and repeated attempts to cover-up the ineptitude of the government and the regulator.

I am the person referred to in Senator Norris' statement below. Norris is an independent senator with no party affiliation.

I resigned from my position as the risk manager of a foreign bank operating in Dublin in 2007. We breached minimum liquidity requirement by BILLIONS of Euro on a regular basis. I made sure the Regulator was notified at least on one such occasion.

In his statement to the Irish Seanad (Senate) in February this year, Senator Norris concluded:

"...I would like her [Deputy Brady] to take the message back to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, that there is ministerial responsibility in this matter. This is a grossly serious matter which has been reported to the Financial Regulator. A man has lost his job as a result. He honourably resigned. The degree of breach was 40 times the accepted margin. This is a disaster. If we are not prepared to face the issue and investigate it when it has been laid before the House, there is absolutely no hope for the financial system or its reputation worldwide. I accept and understand it is not possible to anticipate what I will say in a debate; therefore, I will excuse the reply on that basis. However, I have made very clear requests that this matter should be examined. How can the Financial Regulator investigate himself? He was in breach of his responsibility. That is the first point.... It is not too much to ask in this Parliament that this should happen. I want the process to start tonight.... ."

I have brought the matter to the attention of several senior TDs (MPs) and Senators at all the major political parties; alas, silence prevails.

Whilst the catastrophic over-night breach that I had reported to the Regulator could have been theoretically remedied immediately, it is virtually impossible for it to have been a 'once-off' event, had we been abiding by the terms of our banking license. Chaos prevailed and by the time the Regulator's team arrived for a scheduled audit, they made sure that communication with the London consultancy whom I had brought-in to sort out the mess, was promptly cut-off. By then, I was no longer attending the office, but was on 'garden leave'.

Although my position had been confirmed by the bank's board of directors only shortly before my resignation, and my resignation clearly stated that it was due to integrity issues at the bank, the Regulator's team made no attempt to contact me then, or at any time since then.

The official protocol of Norris' statement is available under 'Financial Regulation' (3rd from the end of the list) at:

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate...=1&Ex=743#N743

The workings of Ireland's Financial Regulator are best displayed in the following example from the actual regulation in relation to liquidity management. This is the link to the 2006 legislation that came into force in 2007, as seen in paragraph 9.4 Implementation (page 27 of pdf):

http://www.financialregulator.ie/ind...ity%20Risk.pdf

Having failed completely at enforcing his own regulations, the Regulator then re-issued the above regulation in June 2009. Although the preamble refers to Banking Acts dating as far back as 1942, there is no reference to the fact that these liquidity requirements came into force in 2007. Here is the link to the 'new' regulation. The person who can find paragraph 9.4 in this document might also be able to find Ireland's missing billions (observe pages 28-29 of the pdf file):

http://www.financialregulator.ie/ind...09%20Final.pdf

Parag. 10 which stipulates possible imprisonment penalties for breach of liquidity regulations remains unchanged. Ireland is now on the verge of financial meltdown due the most severe liquidity crisis it has ever faced, yet not a single executive has been put in prison.

The only specific response by official Dublin to Norris' allegations appeared in the Business Post:

http://www.thepost.ie/story/eysncwauoj/

The Regulator's records differ; quelle surprise?Whistleblower continues....


PS to my comment above:

1. In his reply to Senator Norris, Minister Lenihan referred to Ireland's reliance on ECB funding through-out the liquidity crisis, in return for which Ireland was offering full cooperation with Eurozone countries. However, although Minister Lenihan was provided by Senator Norris with the name of the offending bank, Minister Lenihan did not give any indication that the authorities in the central-European country in which the parent bank is domiciled were informed of this calamitous breach. Surely, had Minister Lenihan, or the Irish Regulator, informed their continental counterpart of this incident, they would have been eager to state that on record?

Sachsen Landesbank and Hypo Real-Estate (Depfa) Bank both neared collapse on account of their mismanaged and poorly regulated Irish operations. LBBW Bank and the German taxpayer, respectively, will be paying for these fiascos for years to come. Would it not have been proper order for Minister Lenihan to ensure that the failings of this yet-to-be-named Dublin-domiciled bank, which is part of one of the largest banking groups in central Europe, to have been brought to the attention of its regulating authorities? Perhaps that would just have been too embarrassing; it was bad enough that an ex-governor of the Central Bank of Ireland sat on Depfa's board of directors when it was about to go under:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...261527333.html

Derek Scally, The Irish Times correspondent to Berlin, wrote last August:

"...as long as things weren’t broken, no one saw a need for a fix. An unholy trinity of events changed that, beginning in September 2007.

After years of record returns, Saxony’s Sachsen LB state bank realised its Dublin-based subsidiaries had been gambling off the balance sheet and needed €17 billion overnight to save the entire group from collapse. A second pile of debts worth €600 million were subsequently uncovered.

A whip-around from Germany’s banks saved the day, and a fellow state bank eventually bought the Saxon operation. But the near-disaster meant years of gossip about the IFSC [Irish Financial Services Centre, WhistleblowerIRL] in Germany turned into open speculation about the veracity of Dublin’s reputation as a serious financial marketplace.

Then in June 2008 the Irish rejected the Lisbon Treaty, a document the average German had never read or heard of. No matter: the No was perceived here as a slap in the face from Irish ingrates to generous Germans, a view which, when fixed, was impossible to shift.

Four months after Lisbon, Ireland was back in the German headlines after the IFSC-based Depfa bank, a subsidiary of Munich’s Hypo Real Estate (HRE) property lender, ran out of funding and required a package of emergency loans and guarantees that would eventually top €100 billion. Amid a huge political scandal in Germany, HRE was finally nationalised."

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...276713254.html

2. A prominent member of one of the opposition parties recently said to me - "we can't afford the consequences of revealing this story, we already have enough to deal with if we come to power".

3. The only people who are paying the price for the crimes committed by bankers and the Regulator, with the blessing of the government, are my fellow Irish citizens - the young who are forced to leave the country by the thousands, the families who can not afford the next mortgage payment, and the elderly and infirm who await their misfortune with horror.

Messrs Cowen, Lenihan and Honohan, I wonder if you sleep well at night. Very few of us do.

[C. Flower]

And thanks to you Newsy, for posting this thread.

Whistleblower added this today



http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2010/11/18/WhistleblowerIRL/02a90eb1-912d-4289-873b-ffad34e3ca95/60x60.png (http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/WhistleblowerIRL) WhistleblowerIRL (http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/WhistleblowerIRL)

18 November 2010 12:45PM

In an address to the Irish Senate on 23 Feb. '10, Senator Norris discussed a series of severe breaches of liquidity requirements at a European bank operating in Ireland in 2007. He said that the bank was “one of the European banks with its Irish headquarters in the Irish Financial Services Centre” (IFSC) in Dublin.
In her reply on behalf of the Minister of Finance, Mr. Lenihan, Deputy Brady stated that “Robust liquidity management within individual institutions is also essential in order to maintain stability in the financial system as a whole...” and that “The supervision of liquidity requirements for credit institutions licensed and operating in Ireland is primarily a matter for the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator”.
In petitioning the European Commission to approve the NAMA legislation, the Irish Government stated that this was required in order to stabilize the acute condition of the Irish financial system. As Deputy Brady stated “Irish credit institutions and many European credit institutions have obtained liquidity support provided by the bank” [the ECB].
Now that the ECB/IMF is once again providing contingency funding to the Irish banking system, is Governor Honohan in a position to confirm that he has fully investigated the ongoing & severe liquidity breaches reported by Norris to Minister Lenihan?
Deputy Brady stated on behalf of Minister Lenihan that “Breaches of liquidity requirements may be subject to proceedings under the Financial Regulator’s administrative sanctions procedure or to prosecution.” Can Governor Honohan please tell the Irish people how many banking executives have been prosecuted by now? Or is he still searching for evidence?
Deputy Brady went on to state that "The Financial Regulator imposes quantitative and qualitative standards for liquidity for all credit institutions that it supervises, be they credit institutions operating in the domestic market or those operating in international markets. These standards are outlined in the Financial Regulator’s document, Requirements for the Management of Liquidity Risk, and have been formally imposed as a condition on the licence of all credit institutions. The Financial Regulator also has a role in monitoring the functioning of liquidity within branches of credit institutions operating in Ireland where these are supervised by their home country regulator. The Financial Regulator maintains close communication with the regulators of other member states for this purpose."
Governor Honohan, may I therefore conclude that the breach that I reported to the Regulator has been brought to the attention of the regulator in the relevant "other member state"? We are talking here of breaches of 20-40 times the permissible deviation according to the Regulator's own regulation.
Perhaps Minister Lenihan decided to dispense with formalities and use the opportunity of his visit to Brussels this week to whisper in the ear of the relevant Finance Minister. As the noose tightens around Ireland's neck, it would be nice to think that Minister Lenihan gave the other finance minister at least a token warning that the biggest bank in this continental European country does not seem to know that its Dublin bank was missing BILLIONS in its 'petty cash' till. Had I not delivered the letter myself to the Regulator's office on Dame street and received the confirmation from the Regulator that he has been made aware of this breach, I would not believe it myself...
So, Messrs Lenihan & Honohan, as you await billions more in bailout money for our country, will you at least show courtesy towards your counterparts in this other European country? Or will you continue your policy of "Lets wing it" a bit longer, in the hope that you will not be found out? After all, you did have some success in convincing Brussels at the time that NAMA would save us all from the Armageddon that we are now experiencing.
Senator Norris' statement at the Seanad and Deputy Brady response on behalf of Minister Lenihan are available in my original postings (links below).

THANK YOU to all of you who have sent me messages of encouragement and support, such as the ones below:
"Extraordinary post. I'm sure you are just one among many who could tell the truth about what has happened in this country over the past 10 years. The problem is the conspiracy of silence and bullying behaviour by the banks and their friends the politicians..." - 'apatheticzealot'
"Amazing stuff WhistleBlowerIRL - we need people like you to come forward if we're ever to dig ourselves out of this mess." - 'Griffitz'
My original postings can be read at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/8418258
http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/8418590

[disability student]

Why doesn't this whistleblower contact this website and post it as we would be v glad to hear his comments if any??

It could be that he isn't an Irish citizen but perhaps from an another country??

[C. Flower]

Why doesn't this whistleblower contact this website and post it as we would be v glad to hear his comments if any??

It could be that he isn't an Irish citizen but perhaps from an another country??

The internet is international, and so is this forum :) . I hope we hear from him/her soon.

We posted quite a bit about his case on some threads on the banking crisis -

http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?p=43607&highlight=Norris#post43607

[TotalMayhem]

Why doesn't this whistleblower contact this website and post it as we would be v glad to hear his comments if any??

Why don't you ask him yourself?


My E-mail address is: Whistleblower.IRL@gmail.com

[C. Flower]

Why don't you ask him yourself?


My E-mail address is: Whistleblower.IRL@gmail.com

I have asked, and have had a friendly reply.

[C. Flower]

From our Anglo Timeline -


In 2007 a whistleblower went to the Regulator with concerns about a serious liquidity issue at an Irish subsidiary of a European bank. When nothing was done about it, he resigned, to protect his own legal position. From Kathleen Barringtons's blog.

http://kathleenbarrington.blogspot.com/2010/05/norris-raises-red-flag-at-ifsc.html

Also in May 2007, Cowen as Finance Minister introduced legislation that enabled Irish banks to increase their lending for commercial development...
http://kathleenbarrington.blogspot.com/2010/06/cowens-act-fuelled-banks-folly.html

[C. Flower]

I'm cross posting these posts from the Anglo Irish timeline thread as they all may help to build up a picture

An interesting thread from the Pin, probing a little at the IFSC, AIG, Bruton et al.
I'm still unconvinced that the Irish crash should be seen as entirely Irish.

http://www.thepropertypin.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=30394

[C. Flower]

I'm not sure if Whistblower was talking about a German bank. ang posted this on the Anglo Timeline thread.

The IFSC basically want to manage their own affairs and are looking for a waiver from the financial regulator:-


IFSC institutions and other wholesale international banks operating in Ireland will call on the Financial Regulator to waive new corporate governance requirements for wholly-owned subsidiaries whose parent operations have equivalent requirements in another country.
The wholesale banks are also accusing the regulator of failing to meet basic standards of "necessary, targeted, transparent and proportionate" regulation, according to briefing documents seen by the Sunday Tribune.

http://www.tribune.ie/business/news/article/2010/jun/27/ifsc-bodies-to-lobby-regulator-for-rules-waiver/

German Financial institutions are particularly bothered by the new regulations and their stance is either you meet our criteria or we pull out:-


German banks and financial institutions will review their operations in Ireland if the Financial Regulator pushes ahead with controversial proposals on corporate governance, a powerful German industry lobby group has warned.

Describing the proposals as ‘‘unfeasible and unviable’’, the German Irish Chamber of Industry and Commerce has told the Irish government that a number of its members had raised serious concerns about the proposals, and that they would review their investment in Ireland if they were insisted upon.

The chamber said the proposals would rule out the eligibility of nearly all current chairs of companies in the IFSC, while also disqualifying the majority of current board members of IFSC operations.

Without changing the proposals, the representative group warned that Ireland would ‘‘undoubtedly lose significant foreign investment’’ from banks and subsidiaries, and that its attractiveness to foreign investors would be diminished.

In a letter to Taoiseach Brian Cowen, the German chamber said the proposals would also ‘‘result in a dramatic reduction in tax revenue and an increase in unemployment with little chance for employees’’.

The group sent the letter to Cowen, following the publication last month of a consultation paper on corporate governance standards for banks and insurers.

http://www.thepost.ie/story/text/eysngbojcw/

[disability student]

Why don't you ask him yourself?


My E-mail address is: Whistleblower.IRL@gmail.com


Thanks TM,

He/she can be tracked via IP address as i would suggest him or her to be careful. He/she can use proxy to pass it on to others to shield him/her from pressures coming from the media or the govt.

I will e-mail the person in question although i won't be expecting too much from that person concerned.:D

[Seán Ryan]

Good to see a thread dedicated to this chap.

He could have pocketed the cash and said nothing. It's excellent to see ethics outweigh corruption. We don't see that too often. And I'm sure that the time between his resignation and now, must have been hellish.

Talking the talk is good. But I respect walking the walk more.

[C. Flower]

This thread on Casey and the Anglo / ILP back to back loans, asking why the Government/Lenihan authorised issue of misleading accounts, strikes me as relevant, although not directly so, in the way that is shows how business is done.

http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?p=41143#post41143

[C. Flower]

Captain Con made this comment -


It would be some deck of cards if it was revealed that these mysterious bondholders in Anglo who FF are desperate to keep hidden turn out to be other European and US banks and all these banks were bondholder for each other.

I still think the 'golden circle' were involved as bondholders but if Anglo were bondholders say in the other banks involved in the swap transactions then we're looking at potential fraud across the system.

And by fraud I mean banks across borders pressurising politicians to bail out their own interests with public money in order to cover up a breathtaking scam.

That resonates with me. Lenihan has always been adamant that non-Irish bondholders were involved with Anglo Irish.

On the systemic nature of Anglo Irish in the Irish banking system - if, say, BoI and Allied Irish had put billions into Anglo Irish at the request of the Government, they would have made it systemic.

[ang]

It would seem corruption will be found in the banking sector:-


THE EU-IMF investigators will uncover significant fraud and corruption in their examination of the Irish banking sector according to a leading European economist who worked with the IMF.
Dr Daniel Gros believes that when the crisis is over the country will need a ‘truth commission’ similar to that established in Iceland to investigate and analyse the collapse of the banks and the lead-up to the catastrophic event.

Iceland found that senior politicians, regulators and bankers were all at fault for bringing down the country’s economy.

http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/eu-imf-will-unveil-significant-corruption-136936.html

[C. Flower]

It would seem corruption will be found in the banking sector:-



http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/eu-imf-will-unveil-significant-corruption-136936.html


"When the crisis is over..."

Nice one.

This is a link to other posts here on arrangements with German banks.
I doubt that this side of things will be over exposed until "the crisis is over"

http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?p=43607&highlight=Norris#post43607

[Newsy]

THE EU-IMF investigators will uncover significant fraud and corruption in their examination of the Irish banking sector according to a leading European economist who worked with the IMF.
He believes that the troika – European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF – will expose the skeletons in the cupboards of the country’s banking system and adds that he believes the losses of €50 billion uncovered so far will be the tip of the iceberg.

Dr Gros says it beggars belief that just months after stress tests gave the all-clear, losses of more than 25% of the country’s GDP appeared to come out of nowhere.

“It’s not like the USA with a highly complicated system. Its simply three to five banks with loan books. It’s typical of what can happen in a small country where everyone knows everyone and as long as everything is going well, nobody notices,” he said.


Read more: http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/eu-imf-will-unveil-significant-corruption-136936.html#ixzz15gpiSySt

Hadn't realised it was posted already.

[C. Flower]

Read more: http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/eu-imf-will-unveil-significant-corruption-136936.html#ixzz15gpiSySt

Hadn't realised it was posted already.

A simple system of loan books - but the ODCE investigation says it needs years.

Perhaps when they start to look they will find its not all so simple.

[disability student]

Read more: http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/eu-imf-will-unveil-significant-corruption-136936.html#ixzz15gpiSySt

Hadn't realised it was posted already.

Thanks Newsy for putting up this thread as it's very relevant.

It's quite staggering as regards to the TOTAL silence of all the politicans in the Dail with an exception of David Norris. That said, which doesn't bode well in the future when it comes to the new govt administration sometime before 2012.

It was quite flagged by the whistleblower as no further action was taken. That was quite unbelievable and total irresponsbility on all politicans who made no effort to dig this up a lot more.

I'm not sure if IMF/EU would dig this up more because they are only looking at the books mainly balances- gaps etc to re-address it and make a serious adjustment from there.

[bokonon]

Credit to bokonon for finding this.....hope you don't mind me for giving it a thread of it's own. This is massive.


Cheers, nice one Newsy. I wondered why it didn't elicit a response in the Anglo Timeline thread! I didn't think of making a new thread!

Anyway, as I said I was going to do, I contacted four Fine Gael and three Labour Party TDs Thursday to ask if their parties have been complicit in covering up this whistleblower's evidence. I was going to make a P.ie thread on this topic today, but decided to give them a chance to answer first.



Dear Mr Noonan, Ms Creighton, Mr Bruton and Mr Varadkar,
Dear Ms Burton, Mr Quinn and Mr Rabbitte,

In April this year Fintan O'Toole reported on a whistleblower who disclosed breaches of liquidity rules at the IFSC offices of "one of the largest banking groups in central Europe".

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0403/1224267604942.html

In May this year Kathleen Barrington picked up the story. She described how Senator David Norris brought up the case in the Seanad and quoted the Financial Regulator denying the breach occurred.

http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=THE+INSIDER-qqqs=themarket-qqqs=computersinbusiness-qqqid=49205-qqqx=1.asp

In the last few days, someone claiming to be the whistleblower began posting comments on the new Guardian Ireland page, under the name "WhistleblowerIRL".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user-comments/WhistleblowerIRL

This individual directly accuses opposition parties of being complicit in a coverup. He says:

> I have brought the matter to the attention of several senior TDs (MPs) and Senators at all the major political parties; alas, silence prevails.

He also states:

> A prominent member of one of the opposition parties recently said to me - "we can't afford the consequences of revealing this story, we already have enough to deal with if we come to power".

Is it true that [party] has been contacted by the whistleblower regarding these accusations? Is the quote above from a [party] member?

Why was nothing done? Is [party] protecting a broken system already? What is your comment on Senator Norris's statement? Can we expect a full hearing for this whistleblower when the new government is formed?

If [party] has some knowledge of this issue, I think you should say it now while there is a confessional going on.

Or are the Irish citizens and our new "European partners" to expect ongoing revelations about our financial mismanagement even after the IMF has been brought in and after Fianna Fail has been ousted?

I note that links to the whistleblower's Guardian comments have already appeared on the following popular websites:

www.irisheconomy.ie
www.politicalworld.org
www.reddit.com

This is absolutely infuriating if true and Senator Norris's comments in the Seanad sum it up: "if we are not prepared to face the issue and investigate it when it has been laid before the House, there is absolutely no hope for the financial system or its reputation worldwide".

Best regards
----

[Dr. FIVE]

Hope this info finds it way to someone who can do something with it. (And they do it)
Are we at all surprised this was posted on an English rather then an Irish site ?





*gasps at the thought of the Tribunal we would be looking at *

[C. Flower]

Hope this info finds it way to someone who can do something with it. (And they do it)
Are we at all surprised this was posted on an English rather then an Irish site ?

*gasps at the thought of the Tribunal we would be looking at *


Well, in fairness, we would have given Whistleblower the floor if he/she wished to post here :)

We have several posts here about his/her efforts, going back months.

If only more people would put their honour and reputation first - and that of the country - and come forward with the truth.

[disability student]

[QUOTE=C. Flower;92854]A simple system of loan books - but the ODCE investigation says it needs years.


FF/GP govt had deliberately refused to accede to their request for more staff.




Perhaps when they start to look they will find its not all so simple.

+1.

Goldman sachs estimate for the bailout is to be €100BN.

Well i think it's double that figure more or less.

[C. Flower]

It would seem corruption will be found in the banking sector:-



http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/eu-imf-will-unveil-significant-corruption-136936.html


This is almost worth a thread itself - partly because it offers and alternative to the EU/IMF loan package.

[C. Flower]

A blogger, Golem XIV, has been following the relationships between German and Irish banks, and the role of the IFSC

http://golemxiv-credo.blogspot.com/2010/11/who-bankrupted-ireland.html

I don't think he will mind his blog being quoted in full, but would be happy to take it down if he has any problem with this.


Who bankrupted Ireland?


Now across Europe the great blame game will rumble back into play. Our banks, your banks, their banks, or is it your feckless householders or ours, certainly can't be theirs, they're still doing well in Germany. Expect lots more national stereotypes to be wheeled out for ritual defamation.

So let's ask who it was took a dump in Ireland?

First, the suspects.

Ireland has three big insolvent banks and several other smaller, equally insolvent financial institutions we won't bother to mention by name.

Ireland also has a large number of subsidiaries of European, British and American Banks.These subsidiaries are often registered as Irish and therefore on Ireland's tab not the nation of the parent bank. This often gets forgotten in the excitement. But it is KEY.

Ireland also houses a very large chunk of the world's Special Investment Vehicles (SIV's) which are the shell companies which house trillions and trillions of dollars and Euros and pounds worth of Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs). These are what Warren Buffett described as "weapons of financial mass destruction'" And they are in their own way as hard to find and disarm as the ones we had a fraudulent war over. Anyway I digress.

These CDOs, in turn, house an equal or greater nominal value of Credit Default Swaps (CDS) written upon the CDOs. I can't tell you the figures because only the Irish Stock exchange has the otherwise completely confidential paper work and I have serious doubts (from what I have been told in the last week by an insider with first hand knowledge) that the Irish regulator and stock exchange have much of a clue themselves.

So, to the crime.

Some of this will, for legal reasons have to be done in generalized terms with names left out to protect the Innocent - me. But to start with let's be reasonably specific. Germany was and is very very angry with Ireland for ruining its banks. That is what a German banker told me this week. She spoke on the guarantee of anonymity as she would suffer all sorts of legal problems if she was identified. I am sorry that this leaves you just having to trust that I'm not just making this up, but I hope many of you know me well enough to go with it.

In fact it was rumoured in German banks that at the time of the collapse of Hypo Real Estate, an angry call was made from the German Premier to the Irish, to complain, to which the answer was ... well it was short. Now this is nothing but a rumour. But it was a rumour in Germany which indicates that some in Germany were and perhaps still are very angry and blame Ireland.

So are they right in their blame?

The same banker told me this. She was aware of instances, and so was everyone else, of banks, German banks, who used to fly their people from Germany to Ireland in order to do deals that were not allowed in Germany.

German banks set up subsidiaries in Ireland. These subsidiaries were often registered as completely Irish companies. Back in Germany the German regulator (BaFin) had strict and enforced rules. Very good rules for the most part. Far, far better than Britain or Ireland. But these good rules, properly enforced meant German banks could not do many of the most lucrative and in hind sight reckless kinds of deals.

So the German banks would do the figures and work it all out in Frankfurt, then send a banker over to Ireland, get them to sit at 'their' desk in Ireland, in the Irish bank, and do the deal there. The legal registration of the deal and the 'oversight' were all Irish. This is known in the financial world as jurisdictional arbitrage. You and I would call it cheating if we were feeling charitable and lying if we weren't.

The Banker flies back to Germany, where the German bank hasn't done any deal, and therefore has done nothing wrong. The deal was properly overseen and approved by the appropriate Irish financial authorities and the profits would be banked at a very happy Irish bank. If any management of the 'deal' was required an Irish company would be hired, there are many, and an Irish manager often living not far from Cork, would 'manage' the money in and out. I have spoken to such people. Usually I can hear the sweat coming off them as they ask how I got their number and where did I get my information. To which I would reply that the Internet is a very large place and never, never forgets.

Now my question to you is this. If it's a German bank and a German banker doing the deal is it Germany who made the mess? Or, equally justified, if the deal was actually done in Ireland in an Irish company allowed and no doubt welcomed by Ireland's financial world, and overseen by Ireland's wonderful regulators, is it Ireland who made the mess?

Should Germany, have pulled the plug on this racket? Should Ireland? Whose losses when they finally came, are they?

If the bank is registered in Ireland as an Irish bank/business, then the loss is on Ireland's tab. Depfa was an Irish bank. Just months before its collapse in 2007 it was bought by Hypo, a German bank. Had that not happened the €180 billion euro loss at Hypo Real Estate would have been Ireland's loss, dwarfing all other losses. Why was Hypo Real Estate bought by Germany at that moment?

I can't say for sure. But think about this. Sachsen Landesbank collapsed due to around $30-40 billion in bad sub prime loans its Irish subsidiary called Ormond Quay had made in the U.S. OrmondOrmond's collapse caused the immediate collapse of one of Germany's Landesbanks. Which suddenly sent ripples of fear through all the other Landesbanks as the world woke up to the rampant idiocy that the Landesbanks had been getting up to ...in Ireland.

Germany had to step in and bail Sachsen out. Now lets think about Depfa. Depfa started life as a German bank. It became listed in London and then in 2002 moved to and registered itself in Ireland in the newly set up IFSC (Irish Financial Services Centre) This was like a legal gated community or financial maquiladora. The IFSC was in many ways supposed to be the regulator of what went on in its grounds. I leave you to decide how well it must have done.

By the way the IFSC was created by Dermot Desmond with the help of Charles Haughey.

So Depfa is now an Irish registered bank. But it has very close ties to Germany and many German banks and landesbanks. If ever Depfa went down it would certainly have plunged a vast swathe of German banks and landesbanks into a storm of insolvency, that would have dwarfed the fall out from SachsenLB. . Depfa must not be allowed to go down.

So when in 2007 Depfa was suddenly bought by Hypo Real Estate was it because news of financial problems hadn't reached Germany and they bought it because they thought it was a great deal and were cheated by those crafty Irish? OR might Germany have known that a massive crisis was ticking away in Depfa and could see the clock was running down close to zero hour, and realized that if left in Ireland it would not, could not be rescued by Ireland and so would be left to start a chain reaction that would move straight to Germany? If they thought the latter, do you think it likely that Germany would have just said "Oh Scheisse" and sat waiting for Armageddon, or do you think they would have taken emergency action to bring Depfa under German ownership and jurisdiction where German pockets were deep enough to bail it out and thereby save the rest of Germany's banking system?

You decide.

So let's return to our question? Whose fault? Would Germany be right to be bitter about Depfa/Hypo and others? Or does the blame lie with the Germany banks and Bankers who flew to Ireland to do their mess? Is it Ireland's banks mess or Germany's? I don't think we can disentangle the blame.. maybe when the Irish Banks' books are finally opened we could. But I bet you no one outside the top bankers and politicians, the people who oversaw the creation of the bomb in the first place, will ever be told what's really in there.

I can't say and neither can you, if the losses are Irish or German. But we can say, the losses never were, and should not ever be, yours and mine. We, the people, who were told nothing, were not asked nor consulted, whose laws were either ignored, set aside or re-written, we should not be expected to pay for those losses now.

They are bankers losses. It is NOT a question of Irish or German. It is question of wealthy bankers from all countries not just Germany (almost every nation, Germany, America, Russia, France Britain, we did dirty work in Ireland) and their corrupt Irish helpers versus the people. It is not a question of should the Irish people or the German people pay. Neither people should. It should be the bankers who made the losses who should take them.

DO NOT allow the bankers to set us against each other as a cover for their crime and guilt.

[Dr. FIVE]

Well, in fairness, we would have given Whistleblower the floor if he/she wished to post here :)

Yes and I hope he/she takes the opportunity.
What I meant was, are we surprised it was posted on the Guardian site as opposed to the IT ?

I think we all have inclination this could be alot murkier the we could have imagined.
Anybody that believes Germany has been a model of prudence might be in for a for surprise.

Greed is universal as we all know..

[PaddyJoe]

And of course we also had a thread on the back to back loans between Hypo and Anglo:
http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?t=2240&highlight=Hypo
Hypo back in January of this year was considering legal action against directors of its Dublin-based subsidiary, Depfa plc.

GERMAN LAWYERS investigating the near-collapse of the Hypo Real Estate (HRE) group are considering legal action against former board members of its Dublin-based subsidiary, Depfa plc.

Former directors of Depfa include ex-Central Bank head Maurice O’Connell and Frances Ruane, director of the Economic and Social Research Institute.

They could find themselves dragged into a bitter legal battle between Depfa parent Hypo Real Estate (HRE) and Georg Funke, its former chief executive and a former Depfa director.

“We are examining compensation suits against the entire boards of Depfa and of Hypo Real Estate,” Detlef Bauer of Gleiss Lutz, legal counsel to HRE, told The Irish Times.

Many of the risky activities carried out by the Dublin-based bank that brought HRE and Germany’s financial system to the brink of ruin last year took place when several prominent Irish businesspeople sat on the Depfa board.

O’Connell, who served for five years until 2007, could not be reached for comment; Ruane, a director for four years until 2006, declined to comment.

The HRE case against Funke and two other board members is expected to get under way in May.
Haven't heard anything about this case since.
ttp://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0102/1224261527333.html

[TotalMayhem]

Anybody that believes Germany has been a model of prudence might be in for a for surprise.

Consider this:


German banks set up subsidiaries in Ireland. These subsidiaries were often registered as completely Irish companies. Back in Germany the German regulator (BaFin) had strict and enforced rules. Very good rules for the most part. Far, far better than Britain or Ireland. But these good rules, properly enforced meant German banks could not do many of the most lucrative and in hind sight reckless kinds of deals.

So the German banks would do the figures and work it all out in Frankfurt, then send a banker over to Ireland, get them to sit at 'their' desk in Ireland, in the Irish bank, and do the deal there. The legal registration of the deal and the 'oversight' were all Irish. This is known in the financial world as jurisdictional arbitrage. You and I would call it cheating if we were feeling charitable and lying if we weren't.

The Banker flies back to Germany, where the German bank hasn't done any deal, and therefore has done nothing wrong. The deal was properly overseen and approved by the appropriate Irish financial authorities and the profits would be banked at a very happy Irish bank. If any management of the 'deal' was required an Irish company would be hired, there are many, and an Irish manager often living not far from Cork, would 'manage' the money in and out. I have spoken to such people. Usually I can hear the sweat coming off them as they ask how I got their number and where did I get my information. To which I would reply that the Internet is a very large place and never, never forgets.

Now my question to you is this. If it's a German bank and a German banker doing the deal is it Germany who made the mess? Or, equally justified, if the deal was actually done in Ireland in an Irish company allowed and no doubt welcomed by Ireland's financial world, and overseen by Ireland's wonderful regulators, is it Ireland who made the mess?

...

They are bankers losses. It is NOT a question of Irish or German. It is question of wealthy bankers from all countries not just Germany (almost every nation, Germany, America, Russia, France Britain, we did dirty work in Ireland) and their corrupt Irish helpers versus the people. It is not a question of should the Irish people or the German people pay. Neither people should. It should be the bankers who made the losses who should take them.

DO NOT allow the bankers to set us against each other as a cover for their crime and guilt.

Source: Who bankrupted Ireland? (http://golemxiv-credo.blogspot.com/)

Gangland Dublin ...

[C. Flower]

And of course we also had a thread on the back to back loans between Hypo and Anglo:
http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?t=2240&highlight=Hypo
Hypo back in January of this year was considering legal action against directors of its Dublin-based subsidiary, Depfa plc.

Haven't heard anything about this case since.
ttp://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0102/1224261527333.html

Yes, indeed ...

It's getting late for me, but I have a feeling that careful reading of all this would be illuminating.

I remember reading that Anglo Irish had been giving end of year back to back/end of year liquidity loans to German (and possibly other foreign) banks for a number of years.

Do you remember that ?

[Dr. FIVE]

yip, just read the full post.
Great to find out our little corner of Europe is the Amsterdam of the financial world just before bed isn't it.

Nice to CJH ghost is still with us also.
I always knew it was his fault.

[PaddyJoe]

Yes, indeed ...

It's getting late for me, but I have a feeling that careful reading of all this would be illuminating.

I remember reading that Anglo Irish had been giving end of year back to back/end of year liquidity loans to German (and possibly other foreign) banks for a number of years.

Do you remember that ?

Yep, and I think that was a Simon Carswell story as well. Getting late here too but I'll have a dig around for that one tomorrow. On here somewhere naturally;)

[C. Flower]

yip, just read the full post.
Great to find out our little corner of Europe is the Amsterdam of the financial world just before bed isn't it.

Nice to CJH ghost is still with us also.
I always knew it was his fault.

Ansbacher morphed into Anglo.

[disability student]

That blog is interesting re mechanisms and the interconnectioness between all the major players- the banks. It's like a domino effects where one banks fails affects the other banks in the European sector.

UK banks are affected too because UK exports markets have a high market share than the Germans. It makes sense to the British to offer us the loans.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland - I= Imports E=Exports.
13,728.1 _I

13,485.3- E
Other EU Countries
12,996.6 -I

37,832.9 -E
USA
7,841.8 -I

18,271.9 -E
Rest of World

10,494.6 -I

14,648.9 -E


I wonder who had set up the laws/legaisation as regards to IFSC and their mechanisms?? That law needs to be revoked as quickly as possible. Otherwise, it will continue and continue without addressing the 'real' problem (unregulated in IFSC)

[TotalMayhem]

I wonder who had set up the laws/legaisation as regards to IFSC and their mechanisms?


By the way the IFSC was created by Dermot Desmond with the help of Charles Haughey.

Source: Who bankrupted Ireland? (http://golemxiv-credo.blogspot.com/)

[C. Flower]

That blog is interesting re mechanisms and the interconnectioness between all the major players- the banks. It's like a domino effects where one banks fails affects the other banks in the European sector.

UK banks are affected too because UK exports markets have a high market share than the Germans. It makes sense to the British to offer us the loans.


I wonder who had set up the laws/legaisation as regards to IFSC and their mechanisms?? That law needs to be revoked as quickly as possible. Otherwise, it will continue and continue without addressing the 'real' problem (unregulated in IFSC)

ang posted this on the Anglo Timeline thread.

The IFSC basically want to manage their own affairs and are looking for a waiver from the financial regulator:-


IFSC institutions and other wholesale international banks operating in Ireland will call on the Financial Regulator to waive new corporate governance requirements for wholly-owned subsidiaries whose parent operations have equivalent requirements in another country.
The wholesale banks are also accusing the regulator of failing to meet basic standards of "necessary, targeted, transparent and proportionate" regulation, according to briefing documents seen by the Sunday Tribune.

http://www.tribune.ie/business/news/article/2010/jun/27/ifsc-bodies-to-lobby-regulator-for-rules-waiver/

German Financial institutions are particularly bothered by the new regulations and their stance is either you meet our criteria or we pull out:-


German banks and financial institutions will review their operations in Ireland if the Financial Regulator pushes ahead with controversial proposals on corporate governance, a powerful German industry lobby group has warned.

Describing the proposals as ‘‘unfeasible and unviable’’, the German Irish Chamber of Industry and Commerce has told the Irish government that a number of its members had raised serious concerns about the proposals, and that they would review their investment in Ireland if they were insisted upon.

The chamber said the proposals would rule out the eligibility of nearly all current chairs of companies in the IFSC, while also disqualifying the majority of current board members of IFSC operations.

Without changing the proposals, the representative group warned that Ireland would ‘‘undoubtedly lose significant foreign investment’’ from banks and subsidiaries, and that its attractiveness to foreign investors would be diminished.

In a letter to Taoiseach Brian Cowen, the German chamber said the proposals would also ‘‘result in a dramatic reduction in tax revenue and an increase in unemployment with little chance for employees’’.

The group sent the letter to Cowen, following the publication last month of a consultation paper on corporate governance standards for banks and insurers.

http://www.thepost.ie/story/text/eysngbojcw/

[disability student]

Source: Who bankrupted Ireland? (http://golemxiv-credo.blogspot.com/)

Yes i mean the legislation. I don't think it was unregulated at first but it changed over to unregulated, which resulted in financial cowboy 'wild west'. That change in legalisation must have been signed off by our finance minister.

[Dr. FIVE]

Ansbacher morphed into Anglo.

Wasn't there a 'Where will the cute hoors go? ' thread on the other place today ? :rolleyes:

[C. Flower]

Wasn't there a 'Where will the cute hoors go? ' thread on the other place today ? :rolleyes:

Well, that's a fair question, there's nothing new about any of this - its part and parcel of capitalism now and always was.

[disability student]

Examiner-(extract) feb 1988.

THE GOVERNMENT last night faced mounting pressure to curb 40,000 foreign-owned tax shelters here, following the embarrassing disclosure of sensitive data from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
The blunder led to publication of the measures being considered by a top-level group to control the so-called Irish Registered Non-Resident Companies (IRNR) — which are threatening Ireland's international financial reputation.
The information was added, by mistake, to a reply last week to Democratic Left TD Pat Rabbitte.
He charged that Tanaiste Mary Harney had misled the Dáil by withholding information — though the charge began to run out of steam last night.
The detailed, private note prepared to aid the Tanaiste's Minister of State, Fianna Fáil TD Noel Treacy in the Dáil revealed that the Revenue Commissioners do not even know how many of the brass-plate companies are registered here.
The number setting up here has exploded since the mid-1980s when Britain tightened its laws: "This country is acquiring the reputation as a Cayman Islands of the North Atlantic," charged Mr. Rabbitte.
Mary Harney, responding to the allegations, denied, in London last night, there was any question of her concealing information and said Mr. Rabbitte's statement was completely inaccurate. She said Minister Noel Treacy had acknowledged, in his Dáil answer, the problem that existed, but it was premature to say what legislation was required because an inter departmental working group was still investigating the issue.
The Government was looking at the most effective way of dealing with the issue, she said.
The Tanaiste also said that Pat Rabbitte got his Dáil reply on February 18 and if Ministers had been misleading the Dáil, why, she asked, did he wait until now to draw it to public attention.
"This is a case of Pat Rabbitte going over the top," she declared.
Ms Harney was staying with friends in London last night.
Most of the companies pay no tax here because they do not operate in Ireland: "Some of them have been found to engage in undesirable activities worldwide such as fraud, money laundering and other illegal activity.
"The fact that they are Irish-registered reflects badly on the reputation of Ireland. More particularly, they are perceived as been regulated in the same way as companies operating from the International Financial Services Centre which of course they are not," said the briefing paper.
The IFSC has demanded action against the tax shelters for some time, though a study carried out by the country's six biggest accountancy firms, on behalf of the IDA, warned that Ireland could lose out on foreign investors.
However, Enterprise, Trade and Employment has a jaundiced view of the accountants' opposition: "They, of course have a vested interest in retaining the status quo because of the business it provides for them," said Minister Treacy's briefing paper.
It is difficult for Government to control use of the accounts since many perfectly respectable multi-nationals operating in Ireland use them to avoid having to repatriate profits to the United States.
The experts' group has considered three solutions:
The abolition of IRNRs;
To make it more difficult for them to register here;
The use of money-laundering legislation to wean out companies owned by criminals.
But, the Industrial Development Authority has urged caution.
"If the Government acts, then it will have to take action to help the companies operating here to restructure," a senior IDA source said.
In the short, written Dáil reply given to Mr. Rabbitte, Minister of State Treacy said the Government was "acutely aware" of the problems that some IRNRs are "giving rise to and of the urgent need to put measures in place to address these problems."
The expert investigation comprises officials from the Departments of the Taoiseach, Finance, Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Revenue, the Central Bank, the IDA and IFSC and banking representatives.



SOME Irish registered, non resident companies could do untold damage to the International Financial Services Centre.
Torlach Denihan, of the Financial Services Industry Association, said that companies, over which the government has no control, could be passing themselves off as operators from the IFSC.
They could be involved in crime and there is nothing Irish authorities can do about it.
Ireland is the only EU state which could potentially offer a safe passage for the ill-gotten gains of criminals who might use the companies office as a vehicle to cloak their illicit dealings and to hide money in overseas accounts, using the respectability given them by having an Irish registered non resident company.
Ten years ago the British government closed down the facility, leading to a huge rise in the number of firms registering with the Dublin Companies Office.
To what extent we are allowing our reputation to be muddied is not clear, but the matter has been under investigation for quite some time.
One of the issues that might cause concern is that multi-nationals can avoid paying tax on earnings they would otherwise repatriate. Having paid tax here US firms operating here can avoid paying tax on funds repatriated.
Any multi-national subsidiary, irrespective of its origin, is afforded that opportunity by the Non Resident Companies scheme.
By continuing to offer this facility Ireland is aligning itself with other tax havens and doing itself no favours.
Experts last night said the biggest problem for the Irish authorities is that they really have no control over those companies.
Those involved are more than likely legitimate but the government has no way of knowing.
International fraud or money laundering might be facilitated by this flaw, but we have no way of knowing, a source said.
One thing is certain, and this is Denihan's concern, the facility may do our reputation no good at all.
The US authorities could question how many of its companies in Ireland are using the device to avoid tax. This facility, according to one accountant, allows multi-nationals operating in Ireland to keep money in safe havens out of reach of the authorities in their own country.

The problems related to IFSC companies was nothing new since 1988.

Finance bill 2000 was amended in particular to the areas in IFSC.

[TotalMayhem]

Ireland could lose out on foreign investors.

Same old, eh? Hands off our corporation tax, hands off our international money laundry.


They could be involved in crime and there is nothing Irish authorities can do about it.

Oh yes, "Irish authorities" can protect the taxpayers, I mean, make us pay for the damage. Goodbye corporate debt, Hello sovereign debt.

The IMF is not here to 'clear up this mess' or expose any fraudulent practices, au contraire, they're here to control this pressure cooker which is about to explode.


This is a case of Pat Rabbitte going over the top

*chuckles*

[disability student]

Same old, eh? Hands off our corporation tax, hands off our international money laundry.



Oh yes, "Irish authorities" can protect the taxpayers, I mean, make us pay for the damage. Goodbye corporate debt, Hello sovereign debt.

The IMF is not here to 'clear up this mess' or expose any fraudulent practices, au contraire, they're here to control this pressure cooker which is about to explode.



*chuckles*


The Irish mindset particulary in the highest levels haven't changed at all over the years.:rolleyes:

They haven't learned anything yet which made me question the calibre of the politicans nowadays. The culture in politics still remained the same since 1988 when problem first arose.

[TotalMayhem]

The Irish mindset particulary in the highest levels haven't changed at all over the years.:rolleyes:

They haven't learned anything yet which made me question the calibre of the politicans nowadays. The culture in politics still remained the same since 1988 when problem first arose.


"This country is acquiring the reputation as a Cayman Islands of the North Atlantic," charged Mr. Rabbitte.

Pat Rabbitte became Minister for Commerce 6 years later. Did he clamp down on those companies that "could be involved in crime" and tarnish Irelands reputation? No, he did not.

Are you ashamed of yourself, Mr Rabbitte? No? Was it Mary Harney who "left you in a straight jacket"?

[C. Flower]

Very interesting posting DS and TA.

I'm just adding NAMAwinelake's blog on how Ireland is bailing out the ECB and German banks, inter alia...

http://namawinelake.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/it%E2%80%99s-not-ireland-that-needs-a-bailout-%E2%80%93-it%E2%80%99s-the-european-lender-of-last-resort-the-ecb/

[disability student]

Recall the stress test which took place four months ago, that issue sidetracked us for a while as a diversion. It was so illusionary as it doesn't take into account other factors such as timing,deposits withdrawn as time goes along etc. It's only a snapshot of that time ... nothing more or less as it doesn't reveal the true undercurrent which drive the fiscal problems upwards.

In another words, stress tests doesn't work at all.

[morticia]

Recall the stress test which took place four months ago, that issue sidetracked us for a while as a diversion. It was so illusionary as it doesn't take into account other factors such as timing,deposits withdrawn as time goes along etc. It's only a snapshot of that time ... nothing more or less as it doesn't reveal the true undercurrent which drive the fiscal problems upwards.

In another words, stress tests doesn't work at all.

Indeedy. And it gets worse. The latest I've heard is that, in addition to telling the NAMA lads porkie pies (well done to Michael McGrath for highlighting that one), our bank employees have closed ranks, are now tighter than the legendary duck's @rse. The ODCE, Guards etc are fairly determined to prosecute, but without a few patriotically minded whistleblowers, where do they go for info?? Especially if everyone is refusing to hand over their passwords??

Those heads on a spike are not going to be easy to acquire.

Re German banks flying over to Ireland, I see a strange parallel with the abortion kerfuffles in the early 90's. I believe we had a referendum, no less, on the "right to travel to other EU countries to avail of services not legal within the boundaries of the state". SO.... German banksters rights to come over here to pursue dodgy deals may indeed be enshrined in our constitution??

Gulp!!!

[Slim Buddha]

Indeedy. And it gets worse. The latest I've heard is that, in addition to telling the NAMA lads porkie pies (well done to Michael McGrath for highlighting that one), our bank employees have closed ranks, are now tighter than the legendary duck's @rse. The ODCE, Guards etc are fairly determined to prosecute, but without a few patriotically minded whistleblowers, where do they go for info?? Especially if everyone is refusing to hand over their passwords??



How about getting them before Mr. Justice Peter Kelly in the Commercial Court and let him ask them for the passwords? If they refuse to divulge them, it's off to the 'Joy for contempt of Court. Indefinitely until they purge their contempt.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Thats the way to go on the obstructionism among bank employees. A letter demanding the information followed by court action. Where they refuse then jail for contempt of court followed by charges of obstructing a legal inquiry.

I've been reading carefully down this thread and Golem and the Whistleblower's posts I feel come very close to the real heart of the corruption in the nexus between the banking sector and politics both in Ireland and in Germany.

This German connection where a bank facing collapse with books that must have stunk being bought over in Germany smells like a German effort to conceal what the politicians there must have realised was a widespread contagion among subsidiaries operating out of the Dublin IFSC.

This smells like a fresh trail and the more that is uncovered on the connection to certain central European banks (including one Italian bank which absolutely stinks of olive oil if you get my drift) could reveal some game-changing info for Ireland.

If it turns out that the Germans have been attempting a cover up by using political means of assisting Dublin politicians to keep a bin-lid on the IFSC and away from investigating agencies then I think we're looking at a much wider international scandal and an explanation why the ECB were dutifully trotting up to buy Irish sovereign bonds.

There's a smell of German politics behind this somewhere.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Even better- a few tip offs to UK papers such as the Mail and the Telegraph alerting them to a possible connection to German shenanigans in protecting their dodgy banks would be like manna from heaven to those papers ...

The angle for the Telegraph would be a wet dream- involving demands that the UK taxpayer help bail out dodgy Irish and German crooks when the UK were smart enough to regulate away the money launderers ... all you'd need is a connection involving Princess Diana and an illegal immigrant and the Telegraph offices would explode with happiness.

They'd love this.

Another little mail to the offices of the Daily Telegraph and the Mail coming right up ...

[barrym]

"The deal was properly overseen and approved by the appropriate Irish financial authorities and the profits would be banked at a very happy Irish bank."

...and other comments about the job the IMF etc are doing here at the mo....

The IFSC was set-up by CJH and his pals. At that time I was working in Luxembourg, then reputed as the 'black hole' of finance (there were various chinks, Clearstream, a Shannon based outfit handling insurance stuff via Lux., etc.) Luxembourg decided to 'unload' some of the worst cases of slippery activites and they all came to IFSC and many more joined them. In Lux there were moans that business was slipping away but Junker (yes him, the boss of the Eurozone) who had replaced Santer, he who was subsequently fired from Pres of the EU, wanted to look good, especially to the Germans, who employ the majority of the financial people in Lux. CJH and co saw the whole thing as an opportunity.... maybe some of them, but certainly not all, regret it...

So, the IFSC rules were written by Desmond and Co and Neary (the regulator, not the surgeon...) was not involved. Consequently, the present regulator says 'nothing to see here, move on' and he is technically correct.

Is it coincidence that there was a report this week indicating the 'value' of the IFSC in economic terms?

Apropos the IMF, they don't do fraud per se, they sweep up the sh1t after it hits the fan.....

The comments about Iceland are what we should be following. I was there in 2009, the people power was palpable, the people kicked out the gov within months, have indicated that the pm will be charged, had the IMF in, but are already on the way out of their troubles, and are unlikely to join the EU.....

[LouiseHannon]

I think this thread is getting at the nub of the issue. I've been following the internet threads which all point in the direction of a massive fraud. I suspect it may not take too long before the fan gets activated. On the other hand the IMF/EU sniffer dogs who are here today, may not want a lot of any embarrassing information revealed. We shall see.
It was interesting that this morning todays Examiner article was not mentioned in any RTE news bulletins
http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/eu-imf-will-unveil-significant-corruption-136936.html

No surprises there

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

barry and louise are right there I'd say in that the IMF/EU ay have just as much reason to avoid getting involved in following up fraud in the Irish and German banking systems as they do in exposing it.

Thinking about the politics higher up I'm sure the EU (ie Germany and France) would prefer that Ireland take its medicine and to tax the Irish public as well to pay for the financial cover up.

The IMF (United States) may take a different political view as they have a political interest in keeping the EU divided and would relish the opportunity to expose a massive German problem right at the heart of the EU. Set against that there is the worry of international financial contagion so the IMF politically need to balance the possibility of Euro depreciation against the dollar against the desire to score big off the Eurozone countries.

I think there is value for Ireland and maybe a chink of light in the realisation that we may have a political lever we could use on Merkel.

I was interested in barrys comments on Luxembourg and Iceland- that Clearstream affair rings a bell in my mind.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I still think that potentially the most useful ally the Irish taxpayer has at the moment is the UK media (particularly the anti EU press).

Irish papers are a write-off as regards proper investigatory journalism but the Telegraph and the Mail sniffing along corrupt lines between the IFSC and German banks may inadvertantly result in a hurried deal out of which Ireland may emerge but we need a new government free of the players in the Dublin scandals to be able to play the game properly I'd suggest.

[barrym]

I think this thread is getting at the nub of the issue. I've been following the internet threads which all point in the direction of a massive fraud.

I agree, but wires are getting crossed, imo. Funny deals in the IFSC are different (but no less worrying) to hiding loans or fudging values. The latter are grist to the mill of banks and bankers, massaging the books is routine.


I suspect it may not take too long before the fan gets activated. On the other hand the IMF/EU sniffer dogs who are here today, may not want a lot of any embarrassing information revealed.

Already at the dail committee yesterday it has.... to the point where a TD actually suggested the guards be called in.... ffs. As I said, this particular bunch of IMF/EU/ECB thugs don't do fraud investigation..., maybe later there'll be another lot, but since the G20 cannot get agreement on how to stop casino banking and even Vince Cable has gone quiet, don't hold your breath.




We shall see.
It was interesting that this morning todays Examiner article was not mentioned in any RTE news bulletins

Interesting? call me cynical, but I'd say it was the norm....RTE don't mention other media, unless they can claim it was robbed from them in the first place....

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I keep thinking of international banking as a kind of modern Standard Oil. That was back in the early decades of the last century a company that got out of hand, was regarded as systemic in the US and abroad and was quite arrogant about some of its predatory practices.

The US government ordered it broken up in the end.

I'd say with international private banking it would be a very good idea to (a) outlaw short-selling, (b) break up Goldman Sachs in particular on the same lines as Standard Oil was broken up and (c) Basel banking regs become a matter for international regulation and switched away from banks funding delays in regulation.

[C. Flower]

I still think that potentially the most useful ally the Irish taxpayer has at the moment is the UK media (particularly the anti EU press).

Irish papers are a write-off as regards proper investigatory journalism but the Telegraph and the Mail sniffing along corrupt lines between the IFSC and German banks may inadvertantly result in a hurried deal out of which Ireland may emerge but we need a new government free of the players in the Dublin scandals to be able to play the game properly I'd suggest.

Just saying, but we also have to be aware of the possibility that the UK or other parties might already be gently pushing this line.

But the facts are there, and already in the public domain, that there were non-standard arrangements between Anglo Irish and some non-Irish EU banks.
Anglo Irish is very much an international operation.

The fact that they sold a high performing Austrian subsidiary in September 2008 still jumps out as an odd event.

Overall, it is clear that there is an interdependency between Ireland, Britain and the Eurozone countries that makes it impossible to understand what has happened here in Ireland without looking at these relationships.

Dermot Desmond's name of course has been mentioned on numerous occasions as one of the influencers/brokers of the Bank Guarantee.

I much doubt that he has been interviewed since by any representative of the Irish Government's various enquiry teams.

[Dr. FIVE]

Nearly afraid to get my hopes to be honest.

Sorry if this comes across as negative but..
Everyone reading this thread right now is aware of plenty dodgy deals and cosy relationships that have been happening in our own back yard for how many years now.
What makes us think that something on this scale would turn out any different.

Garda raid IFSC a year after we find out what has been going on ring any bells ?

[Hapax]

Re German banks flying over to Ireland, I see a strange parallel with the abortion kerfuffles in the early 90's. I believe we had a referendum, no less, on the "right to travel to other EU countries to avail of services not legal within the boundaries of the state". SO.... German banksters rights to come over here to pursue dodgy deals may indeed be enshrined in our constitution??

Gulp!!!


One further analogue might be the practice of extraordinary rendition whereby the interrogation of suspected "terrorists" was outsourced from the U.S.A. to regions where torture was not illegal. Yet more suspect dealing (to put it at its mildest) in which the Irish state was complicit.

[matt]

It might be a good idea to have a breeze through some journalists who have been dealing with the happenings here and give them summations of this story ant the above links for more details.
I have noticed a pattern over the last two years whereby information that was being openly discussed and pointed to on forums like this one were being ignored by our own media, but that when they appeared on the front page of the internaional papers the politicians here were suddenly forced to address the issues pertinent.

I presume FG will have some answering to do here too...

[matt]

Nearly afraid to get my hopes to be honest.

Sorry if this comes across as negative but..
Everyone reading this thread right now is aware of plenty dodgy deals and cosy relationships that have been happening in our own back yard for how many years now.
What makes us think that something on this scale would turn out any different.

Garda raid IFSC a year after we find out what has been going on ring any bells ?

It has cross party ramifications, but more to the point its an international issue, so the local protection system can't interfere.

[C. Flower]

Nearly afraid to get my hopes to be honest.

Sorry if this comes across as negative but..
Everyone reading this thread right now is aware of plenty dodgy deals and cosy relationships that have been happening in our own back yard for how many years now.
What makes us think that something on this scale would turn out any different.

Garda raid IFSC a year after we find out what has been going on ring any bells ?

I don't completely agree.

There's been a lot of focus on local villains and the Irish cosy cartel, but much less on the IFSC and international ramifications, even though Brian Lenihan himself has repeatedly said that that EU bondholders were key players.

A lot of people are trying to beat us down to a state of guilt-ridden paralysis for the movement of hundreds of billions of capital around the world in a completely unregulated and untested fashion characteristic of capitalist boom and bust, but on a much bigger scale than anything seen before.

It is something that happened to us, not something we initiated.

There are of course ruthless crooks who fraudulently played the system with the aim of making themselves millions or billions with no effort.

This whole thing is international, not local, and this thread is getting a bit closer to showing that.

[Dr. FIVE]

This whole thing is international, not local, and this thread is getting a bit closer to showing that.

This is what I mean(sorry, up all night)

I agree about looking to beat us down, keep the focus here and make this an 'Irish problem'.

FF are more then likely complete amateurs compared to alot of these buckos and look how they have wriggled out of any sort of accountability.

When we are looking at IMF(US) and EU. Who is left to do the police work ?

Britain ???

Anyway Il get some sleep. Lets hope the trail stays warm.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

It might be a good idea to have a breeze through some journalists who have been dealing with the happenings here and give them summations of this story ant the above links for more details.
I have noticed a pattern over the last two years whereby information that was being openly discussed and pointed to on forums like this one were being ignored by our own media, but that when they appeared on the front page of the internaional papers the politicians here were suddenly forced to address the issues pertinent.

I presume FG will have some answering to do here too...

+1 bang on... an ideal way to twist the knife in the supine Irish media as well.

[LouiseHannon]

Listening to News @ One today and they weren't really getting at any of the issues. Question: Why are the Greens so quiet on all of this? My gut feeling is these guys may be getting ready to bail out and are just picking their time for damage limitation.

I agree that the foreign media seem to be more ready to call it as it is... Keep an eye on them in the next few weeks because that is where the crucial information will come from... It will only come from RTE three days later.

[ruralista]

+1 bang on... an ideal way to twist the knife in the supine Irish media as well.

Agreed on above, We must not lose sight though of the Irish psyche, We are bi lingual, not Bearla / Gaelige but FF speak and language of the rational mind.
To many truth is overated, It must be supported by very hard hitting facts because the Irish psyche has been successfully indoctrinated toward belief based on perception.
There are very few " Atticus Finch " types among us, They have been eroded through demoralisation, Call them out.
The " Rocking the boat " criteria becomes irrelevant and reduntant when a hurricane hits, Its hovering now over the Irish sea and the Atlantic, the ropes securing those boats will be ripped from their mooring.
Hungry hounds turn on each other..........watch this unfold.
Sorry for over metaphorising !

[TotalMayhem]

Question: Why are the Greens so quiet on all of this?

Quiet (http://twitter.com/paulgogartytd)???

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/2139/20101119135702clipboard.png

[LouiseHannon]

Paul is delusional. This whole crock is moving too fast for a politician like Gogarty to follow. There has to be a ground swell among ordinary members of the Green party. If something really rotten is picked up by IMF/EU and becomes public they will be gone.
This budget will be dictated by what the IMF/ EU guys tell FF/G. There might be cosmetic tinkering around but overall it won't make any great difference.
The Greens will then pick their time if the independents don't pick it first.

[TotalMayhem]

If it turns out that the Germans have been attempting a cover up by using political means of assisting Dublin politicians to keep a bin-lid on the IFSC and away from investigating agencies then I think we're looking at a much wider international scandal and an explanation why the ECB were dutifully trotting up to buy Irish sovereign bonds.

There's a smell of German politics behind this somewhere.

German politicians, like all others, are pretty much in the pockets of the international crime cartel. We must ask us why this cartel picked Dublin to setup shop? The only reason I can think of is that 'our' imbecile traitors are the cheapest to be had ... by a country mile.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Both Boyle and Gogarty are doing the digital version of pretending they've been kept in the dark.

Neither of them are believable. Its the coalition version of Ned O'Keeffe's call for Lenihan to move on ... the usual Fianna Fail habit of attempting to adopt 'rebel' colours when they are in the shyte up to their necks.

[matt]

+1 bang on... an ideal way to twist the knife in the supine Irish media as well.

Der spiegel, Bloomberg, Wall st. journal all given transcripts of the opening posts. I'm hopeful rather than unrealistic...

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I'll be pulling together what I can out of the info and circulating to UK newspapers on the German/banking angle and to some anti-Europe political bloggers over the weekend ...

politics makes strange bedfellows doesn't it?;)

[disability student]

I'll be pulling together what I can out of the info and circulating to UK newspapers on the German/banking angle over the weekend and to some anti-Europe political bloggers over the weekend ...

politics makes strange bedfellows doesn't it?;)

CCOC,

Yes, that would be the best option to spread this news item out of Irish national media ( Not surprisely they have been very very quiet just like the Greens to date).

Hopefully we would get something out of it.:D

[matt]

I'll be pulling together what I can out of the info and circulating to UK newspapers on the German/banking angle and to some anti-Europe political bloggers over the weekend ...

politics makes strange bedfellows doesn't it?;)

Indeed.

What are the principle funding sources behind the IMF ?
It can do no harm to spread word of oppostion to their operations here in that direction.
In the meantime direct all demands, legal threats, etc. to IMF Ireland, irlcontact@imf.org :)

[LouiseHannon]

A perspective from UK channel 4 Faisal Islam Economics Editor
http://blogs.channel4.com/faisal-islam-on-economics/irelands-risky-bank-strategy/13443

Quote " But in creating extra time for their negotiation with the IMF/EU/ECB troika over keeping their fiscal sovereignty and 12.5% corporation tax rate, the Irish government is risking a calamity."

[TotalMayhem]

Quote " But in creating extra time for their negotiation with the IMF/EU/ECB troika over keeping their fiscal sovereignty and 12.5% corporation tax rate, the Irish government is risking a calamity."

I believe, it has already been decided that the corporation tax will not be touched (the IMF couldn't care less about it). FF will come out, in a pathetic attempt of 'saving face' if you will, and say: "See how tough we been on dem IMF people? We didn't give 'em nothing!"

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I'm not sure its even worth FF's while to make any statements. You have to have some credibility and a FF press release isn't worth toilet paper in Tallaght at the moment.

[TotalMayhem]

As we speak it seems to be confirmed that the corporation tax will not be touched (http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?t=5543).

Well done, Biffo!!!

Wait for RTÉ to praise his virtues as a brave leader and tough negotiator!

[whydontwe]

The internet is international, and so is this forum :) . I hope we hear from him/her soon.

We posted quite a bit about his case on some threads on the banking crisis -

http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?p=43607&highlight=Norris#post43607

Yes C Flower...what I'd like to know is...what would be the reason for this not being front page news in all the news media....written, visual etc.? I've said before I'm suspicious of the alliances of the media...am I correct?

[TotalMayhem]

I've said before I'm suspicious of the alliances of the media...am I correct?

Quite, the state propaganda network and corporate meejah won't have none of this whistleblowing BS, ever so concerned with our collective mental health. Just like the good Senator Niall Ó Brolcháin (http://www.kildarestreet.com/sendebates/?gid=2010-11-10.156.0).

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Remember Ireland is a place where whistleblowers are arrested and where criminals with pull get off due to legal technicalities that are unaffordable to the majority of the population.

I'm aware of two people now with vital information who have done their best to do the right thing. Noticeably they are both now living abroad. What does that tell you about the protection available to whistleblowers in Ireland?

Transparency Ireland highlighted this issue in their annual report in 2009 as an identified requirement to improve governance in Ireland.

In the case we are mentioning someone who has tried their best to alert the authorities to something which we now know should have been stopped in its tracks was placed on gardening leave and then had to resign.

That is not right. Remember the Garda who challenged John O'Donoghue about an incident late night with his merc? What happened to that Garda?

There is a thread possible where we could list people who have tried to do the right thing and come a cropper because of it. They are exactly the sort of people who are really needed in places of responsibility.

[Hapax]

Remember the Garda who challenged John O'Donoghue about an incident late night with his merc? What happened to that Garda?

There is a thread possible where we could list people who have tried to do the right thing and come a cropper because of it. They are exactly the sort of people who are really needed in places of responsibility.


I like the sound of that! I don't remember the O'Donoghue incident, so I'm sure there are many more I've forgotten or never knew about.

[whydontwe]

Yes Cap'n...correct....and they tell us we live in a democracy!!
And C Flower....you know I'm a computer illiterate...but...a couple of thoughts:
Can we establish the following polls:
1. Is Ireland a Democracy?
2. Are the Irish Media Controlled by politicians?
Thanks.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

They are good questions whydon'twe and I've a feeling the first one is spread over a number of existing threads and the second is ringing a bell so I'll try and find it and give it a bump for you ...

If CF/Mods don't mind and I can't find direct threads on those questions would it be okay if I helped whydon'twe set those up?

[whydontwe]

Thanks Cap'n....can barely type...never mind anything else...takes me while just to follow posts...the 'oul' 'arthro' in the fingers ye know! Thanks again.

[Design for Life]

I'm cross posting these posts from the Anglo Irish timeline thread as they all may help to build up a picture

An interesting thread from the Pin, probing a little at the IFSC, AIG, Bruton et al.
I'm still unconvinced that the Irish crash should be seen as entirely Irish.


No absolutely not. Boom bust state capitalist economies have been the norm since the 70s and financialisation.

There have been some particulars to the Irish case though and that is obviously the Galway tent, bizarre national attitude to owning land/property and complete capitulation to the neo-liberal model in the wake of any serious social programme. Ireland went from pre-industrial to financialisation without the industrial bit really.

[Design for Life]

The Village has picked this up on their facebook page so hopefully Mr. Smith might look into it further and publish a story on it.


I read both Kieran Allen's Economic Crash and O'Toole's Ship of Fools which highlight Depfa as Ireland's biggest bank. This doesn't make headlines, doesn't get debated on the Front Line or anywheres else.

One thing O'Toole points out is that three major financial scandals/scams originated in the IFSC but yet again the IFSC isn't in the headlights or questioned for it is the great bastion of tiger economy.

After reading that DCU study on the pathetic state of Irish journalism you wonder is there any hope.

[TotalMayhem]

I read both Kieran Allen's Economic Crash and O'Toole's Ship of Fools which highlight Depfa as Ireland's biggest bank. This doesn't make headlines, doesn't get debated on the Front Line or anywheres else.

One thing O'Toole points out is that three major financial scandals/scams originated in the IFSC but yet again the IFSC isn't in the headlights or questioned for it is the great bastion of tiger economy.

I posted this famous line from Mack the Knife (Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera) before:

"You only see those in the light, those in the darkness are out of sight."

And they wish to stay out of sight. Politicians are paid to take the heat. You don't like them, fine, vote for someone else next time around, we'll give you plenty choices.

[bokonon]

One thing O'Toole points out is that three major financial scandals/scams originated in the IFSC but yet again the IFSC isn't in the headlights or questioned for it is the great bastion of tiger economy.


Just to remind people, here are the three scandals:




Dublin-based reinsurance company Cologne Re entered into questionable reinsurance contracts which artificially boosted AIG's reserves by $500m. Last summer, Cologne Re's former chief executive John Houldsworth, was sentenced by a US court to two years' probation, fined $5,000 and ordered to carry out 400 hours of community service. But not before his testimony helped convict five others in America.
German state bank Sachsen LB needed a €17bn bailout after its two Dublin-based special purpose investment vehicles, stuffed with US sub-prime investments, were found to have insufficient assets to cover their liabilities
IFSC-based Depfa Bank, a specialist lender to governments and local authorities, had to be bailed out by Berlin and a group of German banks with a €35bn loan guarantee.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/ifsc-three-incidents-that-tarnished-hubrsquos-reputation-2068738.html



After reading that DCU study on the pathetic state of Irish journalism you wonder is there any hope.
I missed this - do you have a link? Thanks!

[Newsy]

Didn't see this posted. If it is, apologies.

Whistleblower......


18 November 2010 2:37PM

Mary Hanafin, the tourism minister, has predicted that the negotiations will last for several days:

Our aim as a government is to protect the taxpayer... That's why these negotiations will be focused, they will be intense, and will undoubtedly run into next week.


Minister Hanafin, your concern for the Irish taxpayer is touching. However, having now checked the list of Anglo's bond holders, I can now confirm that the foreign bank that I had worked for in Dublin in 2007 is also an Anglo bond-holder at present (via a subsidiary).

Conclusion, not only did this bank benefit from not having to meet Irish liquidity requirements in 2007 (while Cowen was Finance Minister), it is also now cashing-in on the taxpayers money that you are using in order to meet Anglo's debts. How terribly considerate of you and our government.

[Ah Well]

Can any of/this be correlated with the list of Anglo Irish Bondholders as leaked by Guido?

Just a thought ..........

[PaddyJoe]

I note that former FG taoiseach John Bruton was appointed chairman of IFSC Ireland(a new body tasked with promoting Ireland’s international financial services industry) back in May 2010.

IFSC Ireland will be funded by a number of industry bodies including the Irish Funds Industry Association, Financial Services Ireland, the Institute of Bankers and the Irish Stock Exchange.

Barry O’Leary, chief executive of IDA Ireland, welcomed the appointment of a chairman “of such global standing” to represent IFSC Ireland, and said his organisation would support Mr Bruton in his role.

Sadly, I note that his relaunch of the IFSC with major new initiatives was quietly shelved. John spent September getting a tan and 'getting his teeth into the role' in Hong Kong and the Persian Gulf.

NEWLY-installed "IFSC tsar" John Bruton will kick off his new role with a whistlestop tour of Hong Kong and the Persian Gulf to drum up business for Ireland's financial centre, the Irish Independent has learned.

The former Taoiseach was due to be formally unveiled as head of the "IFSC Ireland" in early September, but the launch has been deferred until October so Mr Bruton could first get his teeth into the role.

Sources last night confirmed that Mr Bruton will travel to Hong Kong "before the end of September", targeting investment from the funds management industry in particular. "He has been meeting with various parties central to the funds industry in Ireland and they've told him Hong Kong is the place to go," said one source.
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/bruton-will-fly-the-flag-for-ifsc-on-trip-to-gulf-states-and-hong-kong-2339297.html

However, the big relaunch party for the IFSC was cancelled due to the economic collapse and the imminent arrival of the IMF/ECB.;)

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Thanks Cap'n....can barely type...never mind anything else...takes me while just to follow posts...the 'oul' 'arthro' in the fingers ye know! Thanks again.

How do WdW, I had a look last night and couldn't find anything direct on the question of whether Ireland is a democracy and whether the Irish media is controlled by politicians.

Both subjects have been touched upon many times but the direct question hasn't been put up as far as I can see. I'll PM you with a suggested Opening Post for each and see whether you think I've the right wording and then open them for you in the right sections;

Apologies I didn't do this last night but had to go out- back to you shortly,

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Can any of/this be correlated with the list of Anglo Irish Bondholders as leaked by Guido?

Just a thought ..........

My thoughts were wandering in exactly the same direction and I had another look down the list. There is one bondholder listed which has a presence in Dublin and is a subsidiary of a central European bank of some note.

There may be others as I haven't followed the 'green strings' for all the bondholders listed and I'm aware also that the bondholders Fawkes listed were as at the current period and may not have been bondholders back in 2008.

I suspect strongly though that I'm on the right people but think it would be dangerous legally for me to name the organisation concerned.

Interestingly the parent company (the central european bank which owns the Dublin subsidiary) is actually under investigation in its home country I notice on another matter for suspected money laundering on behalf of olive oil exporters ...

Suffice to say that I feel that there is enough dodgy international accounting by German (and other) banks around the IFSC that would suggest a very good reason why Mrs Merkel and co would be quite panicked if the books were opened on German banking transactions there.

Shines a light on why a lot of money would have been paid to buy back a German bank with a horrendous set of books- same reason in my mind why Irish taxpayers money has been poured into Anglo- to keep the books closed.

Mrs Merkel and the German banking industry won't want the books opened on what exactly has been going on between German banking and the Dublin IFSC.

The Whistleblower we are referring to has quite possibly put a major piece of the ECB's keenness to buy Irish sovereign bonds into the sunlight.

The deeper you go the murkier and more international the Irish banking scandal gets.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Thanks Cap'n....can barely type...never mind anything else...takes me while just to follow posts...the 'oul' 'arthro' in the fingers ye know! Thanks again.

Just noticed that you were suggesting polls rather than opening posts WdW.. I wonder would any of the mods confirm whether it would be appropriate if I constructed a short OP on each subject would they be interested in having polls on the two questions?

[Design for Life]

I missed this - do you have a link? Thanks!

http://politico.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6915:serial-churnalism-at-irish-times-and-irish-independent&catid=194:media&Itemid=879


It seems that the media are too concerned with merely printing PR material.


A thread on it here (http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?t=5556)

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I knew Ireland was a sort of shadowy country many years ago more concerned with the appearance of things than the truth and that may be in some ways related to our culture but I have to say the Irish media with very few honourable exceptions has been nothing short of North Korean in its complicity with Fianna Fail's theft of the state's income.

I'm beginning to see the term 'irish journalist' in the same way as in politics I see the phrase 'Irish barrister'.

I was nearly there when I chose the name Captain Con O'Sullivan as a tribute to an amusing habit around Europe from the days of the Flight of the Earls as saying someone was an 'Irish Captain' which in effect meant they held no military rank but were adventurers and rogues...

and being called 'Captain' by the Garifuna people in western Caribbean and eastern coast of Central America amused me...

How odd from my point of view that when I chose Captain Con O'Sullivan I had accidentally put my finger on the psychosocial map of what was unfolding in Ireland.

Irish 'businessman' (hello Ivor)
Irish 'barrister' (can't say names for legal reasons)
Irish 'accountant' (good man yourself Willie)
Irish 'LSE graduate' (hello bertie)
Celtic Tiger (hello fraud and false accounting)

My favourite from history is an Irish 'Captain' who owned Eclipse, one of the greatest racehorses in history who won every race in which he was entered and then went to stud with most modern racehorses in Ireland and England now carrying his blood ...

That 'Captain' as he was called in racing circles was with his missus a brothel keeper by profession...

[whydontwe]

Interesting analogy Cap'n...and what thinking person could disagree; Many 'whoremonger' politicians here have prostituted the country, man woman and child! These same whoremongers have connections...all round europe etc; no different than the drug barons...that have ravaged and destroyed so many generations all over this country!
The difference between drug peddlers and politicians??...the politicians protect themselves with their legal pals....who are equally complicent in their 'crimes'!!

[TotalMayhem]

Irish 'businessman' (hello Ivor)
Irish 'barrister' (can't say names for legal reasons)
Irish 'accountant' (good man yourself Willie)
Irish 'LSE graduate' (hello bertie)
Celtic Tiger (hello fraud and false accounting)

Irish 'journalist' (Someone who signs their name to press releases from government buildings)

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I had a bleak moment back about five years ago when I was a policy analyst (which is a researcher with permission to speak and advise) for a major corporation with a presence in many European capitals.

My role was to assist whenever regulation reared its head and to brief local public affairs people with the argumentation they could use to ensure the regulation didn't become a sledgehammer designed to crack a nut. There were no ethical considerations involved as in this case the regulation usually mooted would have had the opposite effect of what legislators wanted and I could demonstrate that.

We had a tip that Irish legislators were going down the same old non-working road, advised by people with an agenda of their own. So I rang the Irish lads to say I was there and had the studies and backup to help with the consultation process that was envisaged.

The chap in Dublin told me not to worry about it as he played golf with the Minister. I kid you not.

That was the only time I heard that in dealing with issues all around Europe and beyond. The snakey option preferred to the proper way of doing things in the nexus of business and regulation when we had perfectly good argumentation and back up for a good consultation on the issue with all parties. No need for the 'golf with the minister' routine at all.

We could have won our debate or part in the consultation without considering the 19th hole with the Minister but I guess thats not the way things operate in Dublin. Or rather I had my suspicions confirmed.

[whydontwe]

Funny you relate that Cap'n...I remember talking to several execs from public/civil service over the years...and when they began their careers...they 'took up' golf almost immediately...even those not remotely interested in it! One told me (I paraphrase)..."sure ye don't worry about your score every day...it all mounts up in the end". I'm talkin' 30+ years ago...but that's all in the past......isn't it??

[C. Flower]

I had a bleak moment back about five years ago when I was a policy analyst (which is a researcher with permission to speak and advise) for a major corporation with a presence in many European capitals.

My role was to assist whenever regulation reared its head and to brief local public affairs people with the argumentation they could use to ensure the regulation didn't become a sledgehammer designed to crack a nut. There were no ethical considerations involved as in this case the regulation usually mooted would have had the opposite effect of what legislators wanted and I could demonstrate that.

We had a tip that Irish legislators were going down the same old non-working road, advised by people with an agenda of their own. So I rang the Irish lads to say I was there and had the studies and backup to help with the consultation process that was envisaged.

The chap in Dublin told me not to worry about it as he played golf with the Minister. I kid you not.

That was the only time I heard that in dealing with issues all around Europe and beyond. The snakey option preferred to the proper way of doing things in the nexus of business and regulation when we had perfectly good argumentation and back up for a good consultation on the issue with all parties. No need for the 'golf with the minister' routine at all.

We could have won our debate or part in the consultation without considering the 19th hole with the Minister but I guess thats not the way things operate in Dublin. Or rather I had my suspicions confirmed.

I came across this this morning - Brian Cowen met with the "working group" on Banking (de) Regulation that was working on draft (de) regulations 2007, 2008.

The group was mainly people from the private side of the finance sector, with a few civil servants thrown in.

Fascinating -

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0426/1224269093343.html

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

There you go ... Briano is the piano player in the bankers whorehouse

[wickedfairy]

not sure if its been posted before, forgive if so. From Friday's Irish Examiner.

EU-IMF ‘will unveil significant corruption’By Ann Cahill, Europe Correspondent
Friday, November 19, 2010


http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/eu-imf-will-unveil-significant-corruption-136936.html

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I just wonder whether that is the stick the IMF are holding over Cowen's head to make him stick until the IMF loan is signed and the budget delivered.

[jpc]

I had a bleak moment back about five years ago when I was a policy analyst (which is a researcher with permission to speak and advise) for a major corporation with a presence in many European capitals.

My role was to assist whenever regulation reared its head and to brief local public affairs people with the argumentation they could use to ensure the regulation didn't become a sledgehammer designed to crack a nut. There were no ethical considerations involved as in this case the regulation usually mooted would have had the opposite effect of what legislators wanted and I could demonstrate that.

We had a tip that Irish legislators were going down the same old non-working road, advised by people with an agenda of their own. So I rang the Irish lads to say I was there and had the studies and backup to help with the consultation process that was envisaged.

The chap in Dublin told me not to worry about it as he played golf with the Minister. I kid you not.

That was the only time I heard that in dealing with issues all around Europe and beyond. The snakey option preferred to the proper way of doing things in the nexus of business and regulation when we had perfectly good argumentation and back up for a good consultation on the issue with all parties. No need for the 'golf with the minister' routine at all.

We could have won our debate or part in the consultation without considering the 19th hole with the Minister but I guess thats not the way things operate in Dublin. Or rather I had my suspicions confirmed.

Another anecdote confirming the clientelist nature of Irish politics.
Potholes to policy doctoring

[bokonon]

Fair play to Joan Burton - she brought the whistleblower's accusations up in the Dail.

The response from Brian Lenihan seems written in his hand - it has all the appearances of a comprehensive answer, but it may well be carefully engineered to avoid answering a particular part of the original question.

If anyone wants to try parsing it, to detect what is not said, here you go:



Dear [bokonon],

The parliamentary reply from the Minister for Finance may be of interest to you.

Best regards

Joan Burton TD.
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.



DÁIL QUESTION

NO 86

To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to reports (details supplied) of major breaches of financial regulations in respect of liquidity requirements by a significant financial institution in the International Financial Services Centre; the actions he has taken on foot of these reports; if he has discussed these reports with the Financial Regulator, the Central Bank Governor, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement or any other relevant authority; if a full investigation has been carried out, or is ongoing, to ascertain the veracity of these reports; if he envisages the introduction of new legislation, regulations or enforcement measures to ensure that breaches of this nature do not take place in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter.


- Joan Burton.

* For WRITTEN answer on Thursday, 25th November, 2010.
Ref No: 44557/10
Senator David Norris, Seanad Eireann Debate on Financial Regulation, 23rd February, 2010; Fintan O'Toole, Irish Times, 3rd April 2010; Martin Hesse, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 23rd April 2010; Kathleen Barrington, Sunday Business Post, 16th May 2010;

REPLY


Minister for Finance ( Mr Lenihan) : The Deputy may wish to note that the supervision and oversight of liquidity requirements for credit institutions is a regulatory matter for the Central Bank of Ireland. The Central Bank of Ireland is subject to strict confidentiality requirements under the EU Supervisory Directives and consequently does not share information on specific regulatory issues with my Department unless the issue gives rise, for example, to some broader financial stability issue in respect of which the Minister should be informed.

These circumstances did not arise in this instance. However, in response to the Deputy’s question my Department has been informed by the Central Bank of Ireland that an overnight liquidity breach was reported by an institution at the time referred to in the reports enclosed with the Deputy’s question. The Central Bank followed up on this liquidity breach with the institution, which rectified the position to the satisfaction of the Central Bank at the time. The Central Bank also required an external review of liquidity reports submitted to it and the related control environment. This review did not identify material issues relating to breaches of the required liquidity ratios, other than on the date highlighted by the institution.

The Central Bank imposes liquidity risk management requirements on all credit institutions. These are set out in ‘Requirements for the Management of Liquidity Risk,’ which are available to download from www.financialregulator.ie. Compliance with these requirements is monitored by a combination of on-site and off-site review and inspections. All credit institutions are required to complete an annual internal audit review and submit this report to the Central Bank on compliance with the Requirements. In addition, Section 47 of the Central Bank Act, 1989, provides that where a credit institution's external auditor has reason to believe there are material defects in the financial systems and controls or accounting records of an institution or has reason to believe that there are material inaccuracies in or omissions from any returns of a financial nature submitted to the Central Bank, they are required to notify the Central Bank without delay.

The Central Bank of Ireland has confirmed that this matter has now been fully investigated and the Central Bank is satisfied that all liquidity risk management requirements have been complied with and appropriate steps necessary to prevent any recurrence of this issue have now been taken by the institution concerned.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Couple of things ... Brian Lenihan is carefully attempting to give the impression that the complaint refers to a one-off event on a one-off day. Thats horseshyte and well he knows it.

If anyone wants to check whether banks in Ireland or anywhere else in Europe have adhered to liquidity ratios they only have to examine the large holes in their balance sheets with the taxpayer funded patches over them.

Basically at least one native bank and one large foreign bank I know of were doing a Quinn- gambling on derivatives WAY beyond what they would have been allowed to do under regulations around liquidity ratios in their home countries.

I hear of German banks flying staff in from Germany to Dublin to a low regulatory regime to do so and disguising what they were doing by using only the subsidiary of the parent bank to do it.

The second thing is that Lenihan is attempting to shove breaches of liquidity ratios under the secrecy around Central Bank regulation. The operations of the Central Bank itself may be subject to confidentiality but its role as regulator is not.

He then mentions that its the duty of an external auditor to highlight any breaches of liquidity ratios. Rubbish again.

Lenihan and co have been busy telling everyone that the likes of Ernst and Young cannot be held responsible as auditors for wrongdoing in books they sign off. Now he's saying that auditors are responsible perhaps up to 9 months after breaches of liquidity ratios to suddenly alert directors and regulators that something may be wrong.

I am getting tired of Brian Lenihan and his games.

Imagine if you will the Jerome Kerval affair at Societe General. Its a bit like the French Finance Minister saying one can't expect something like that to be uncovered until there is an annual audit at SG.

Bull. All banks involved in the markets are required to maintain capital requirements and liquidity ratios at all times and not just when the audit comes round. They have risk managers and corporate governance systems which report risk in this areas at monthly if not weekly or daily intervals to senior managers. EDIT: In fact banks have internal risk management departments which monitor capital ratios and other liquidity risks on a DAILY basis which have to be signed off.
Brian is getting mixed up with Central Bank operations secrecy and regulations concerning the running of private banks. Deliberately- in addition to carefully trying to give the impression the above events happened on a once-off basis on one day which was immediately corrected. How come the Maple 10 transaction was arranged when the bank realised immediately that Quinn's travails could result in 10% of the banks shares being dumped on the market? Did Ernst and Young spot that? No. It was the bank's internal risk reports to directors and phone calls to and fro with Sean Quinn. If thats the regulatory regime how come Sean Quinn became exposed to a nosedive in Anglo share value while holding Contracts for Difference at one point equating to 25% of Anglo's stock?

Horseshyte Lennie. Absolute horseshyte.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Dublin IFSC companies which banks in Ireland benchmarked in terms of regulation as appropriate for them too have been involved in three major European frauds; Parmalat in 2004, a $500million fraud by AIG (American Insurance Group) and the largest single bankruptcy in Australian financial history.

Another low regulatory regime in Austria where many of the Anglo bondholder nominal owners are based is a kind of IFSC. Many of the German and Irish banks involved in both areas were using either one or the other zones to trade at a level which would have attracted the attention of regulators in Germany.

"WE WILL never get rid of original sin. We all fall down at times. We are not in the business to make sure everyone who falls is punished.”

Liam O’Reilly, chief executive of the Financial Regulator, May 2005

“Our wealth creators should be rewarded and admired, not subjected to levels of scrutiny which convicted criminals would rightly find intrusive. This is corporate McCarthyism and we shouldn’t tolerate it.”

Sean FitzPatrick, chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, June 2007

“We must resist the temptation to rush to regulate every time an accident occurs . . . Many of us in this room are from the generations that had the luck to grow up before governments got working and lawyers got rich on regulating our lives. We were part of the ‘unregulated generation’ . . . Don’t try to protect everyone from every possible accident.”

Charlie McCreevy, EU commissioner and former minister for finance, in a speech at the Financial Regulator’s annual dinner, October 2005

“The pronounced moves towards greater control and regulation could squeeze the life out of an economy that has thrived on intuition, imagination and a spirit of adventure. There are those who appear to want to establish Ireland as the perfect model in corporate policing and regulation . . . But why? What has been done here over the past decade that demands such a reaction?”

Seán FitzPatrick at the Irish Times Property Advertising Awards, September 2005

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0403/1224267604942.html

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Brian Lenihan to my mind has less integrity on the issue of bank regulation than one of the lapdancers bank staff enjoy so much.

In fact I may start referring to him as Brian Lapdancer. Apologies to lapdancers everywhere for dumping a [REDACTED to 'known Escort for bankers'] in with your profession.

EDIT; Apparently I'm not allowed to refer to Monister of Finance Brian Lapdancer Lenihan as a member of one or the world's oldest professions so I've redacted it to 'suspected Escort for bankers'.

[TotalMayhem]

A prominent member of one of the opposition parties recently said to me - "we can't afford the consequences of revealing this story, we already have enough to deal with if we come to power"

I just came accross this quote on David Malone's blog, his conclusion:


Not even in power and already the politician's thinking has skipped over honesty to concentrate on the acquisition of said power. Moral degeneracy in its larval stage.

More about the Whistleblower case and banking regulation here:

The Enemy Within (http://golemxiv-credo.blogspot.com/)

PW.org is linked as well ;)

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

David Malone's blog as far as I can see is exactly on the money with that latest article. I know the bank he's talking about and I came at this from a different angle.

That GolemXIV blog is seriously well informed and I would recommend it to anyone wondering what the hell is going on with banks and banking in general across Europe and in Dublin.

http://golemxiv-credo.blogspot.com/

[Xray]

There are several dead bodies at the heart of this crisis that are stinking the place out at this stage. I have no doubt that senior people in other countries are well aware of what we have been up to and that is partially the reason that we have been hung out to dry.

I do not think we can move on until we deal with these issues. Unfortunately we have had several dry runs in the last couple of decades in dealing with low standards in high placed that have resulted in nothing other than wealthy lawyers. We really need to do better this time. Industry and business is this country will have no bright future if it cannot run its own affairs in a proper way. Personally I would not invest one cent in the Irish financial system at this stage such is my level of distrust at this stage.

[TotalMayhem]

From WhistleblowerIRL's blog (http://whistleblowerirl.blogspot.com/):


Open Letter to Deputy Joan Burton

Dear Deputy J. Burton,

I am most grateful to you for raising this issue in the Dáil (Parliament) on Thursday last week (Nov. 25th 2010).

I welcomed your assistant’s invite to comment on the reply you received from the Minister of Finance, Mr. Brian Lenihan.

In view of the turbulent events of the last ten days, I firmly believe that now, more than ever before, it is in the public’s interest to be made aware of this affair. I have therefore decided to reply to your assistant’s request in this open and public platform of the internet.

For the benefit of the readers, I have begun by quoting your question in the Dáil and the minister’s reply to it. Following that, I have parsed the minister’s reply (black font) and inserted my comments (blue font).

I trust that my comments will assist you in your quest to reveal the facts of the matter. It is in all our interests that the whole truth of this affair should come to light as soon as possible.

Should I be of any further assistance to you, please contact me so that we can arrange to meet again.

Yours sincerely,
WhistleblowerIRL

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Well done the Whistleblower ... in fairness it appears Joan Burton and Senator Norris have been raising these matters with the Ministers concerned and in the Senate whatever way they can and I've my hat doffed for the Whistleblower's efforts here.

[SeanD6]

These are my favourite sections of Whistleblower's blog http://whistleblowerirl.blogspot.com/:


"The breach reported to the Regulator exceeded the Regulator’s own benchmark by 1900% (yes, one thousand and nine hundred percent), and amounted to billions of Euro. Given the State’s recent requests for ECB & IMF funding on account of liquidity deficiencies throughout the entire Irish banking system, can the Minister confirm that his office was notified of this breach at the time that it occurred? Can the Minister please advise the House what scale of breach would he deem to be of significance to ‘broader financial stability’?" - Does this mean we can all exceed our over-draft limits by 1900% percent now?



"In his response to Senator’s Norris address to the Seanad on 23 Feb. this year, Minister Lenihan stated that “The Financial Regulator maintains close communication with the regulators of other member states for this purpose.” Given this statement and the incomprehensible magnitude of the breach which was reported to the Regulator “in late July or early August 2007” according to Senator Norris’ statement, can the Minister confirm that the relevant European regulator was indeed notified of the liquidity breach at the offending bank? No doubt, it would have been in the interest of all parties concerned to ensure that both the parent company and its corresponding regulator would have been informed of this breach." - I doubt our Brian could have been 'bovered' to make sure that the other regulator was told. I wonder who the 'lucky' devil is?



Can the Minister please explain why the liquidity requirements document issued in June 2009 refers to the already-existing liquidity regulations as “new” in section 1.3, despite the fact that they had already been published in 2006? How does the Minister explain the fact that the legal basis (section 1) in the 2009 makes reference to Central Bank Acts dating as far back as 1942, but yet nowhere in this entire document is there a reference to the 2006 document? How does the Minister explain the disappearance of Section 9.4 – Implementation from the 2009 document? Did the Financial Regulator retract the 2006 requirements? If so, when did he do so? - The Regulator's memory seems to date back to 'The Emergency' of 1942, but he seems to be vague about the naughties...




Given the above statement that ‘this matter has now been fully investigated and the Central Bank is satisfied etc’, can the Minister explain why the specific and severe allegations raised by Senator Norris nine months ago have not been addressed by the Minister at the Dail (parliament), or the Seanad (Senate) since then? At a time when Ireland has been battling to defend its beleaguered reputation in the financial markets the world-over, this silence has ill-served the nation’s best interests. - I mean, really like, you know, does take that long to walk from the Seanad to the Dail? Was it a boy, or a girl, at the end of the nine months?



It is somewhat puzzling that the Minister was able set aside time in his extremely busy schedule to write an article for the English Financial Times last Thursday, an article in which he acknowledged the damage done to Ireland’s reputation under this government, but yet at no point in time over the last nine months did he trouble himself to ‘set the record straight’ regarding this 1900% breach of banking law which was recorded on the pages of the Irish Senate for posterity. - Thank would explain Brian's difficulty in 'counting the apples'. First we needed €50 Bil., then we needed €85 Bil., will we have the figures right by the time the IMF land in Spain? Or is Italy next?


Do we laugh? Do we cry? What do we do?

[C. Flower]

I hope that the Whistleblower doesn't mind this section of his/her blog being published in full:

MY COMMENTS TO MINISTER LENIHAN’S REPLY



Minister for Finance ( Mr Lenihan) : The Deputy may wish to note that the supervision and oversight of liquidity requirements for credit institutions is a regulatory matter for the Central Bank of Ireland. The Central Bank of Ireland is subject to strict confidentiality requirements under the EU Supervisory Directives and consequently does not share information on specific regulatory issues with my Department unless the issue gives rise, for example, to some broader financial stability issue in respect of which the Minister should be informed.


Firstly, the Minister is correct in citing confidentiality requirements imposed on the actions taken by the Central Bank of Ireland. However, confidentiality does not apply to the manner in which the Central Bank fulfils its purpose under Irish law. The prompt departure of Governor Neary from office is an example of that.


Secondly, according to the Regulator’s own regulation (links provided below), a materiality of a breach is defined as:


“4.3 Materiality -
Credit institutions may apply a materiality test to cash flows. The Financial Regulator proposes to adopt a materiality benchmark of 1 per cent of the gap ratio in each timeband.”


The breach reported to the Regulator exceeded the Regulator’s own benchmark by 1900% (yes, one thousand and nine hundred percent), and amounted to billions of Euro. Given the State’s recent requests for ECB & IMF funding on account of liquidity deficiencies throughout the entire Irish banking system, can the Minister confirm that his office was notified of this breach at the time that it occurred? Can the Minister please advise the House what scale of breach would he deem to be of significance to ‘broader financial stability’?



These circumstances did not arise in this instance.

Is the Minister satisfied that breaches of this magnitude, which amounted to billions of Euro in this case, should not have been brought to the immediate attention of the Minister? On what basis was the regulator able to ascertain that “These circumstances did not arise in this instance.”?


In his response to Senator’s Norris address to the Seanad on 23 Feb. this year, Minister Lenihan stated that “The Financial Regulator maintains close communication with the regulators of other member states for this purpose.” Given this statement and the incomprehensible magnitude of the breach which was reported to the Regulator “in late July or early August 2007” according to Senator Norris’ statement, can the Minister confirm that the relevant European regulator was indeed notified of the liquidity breach at the offending bank? No doubt, it would have been in the interest of all parties concerned to ensure that both the parent company and its corresponding regulator would have been informed of this breach.


If the relevant European regulator was notified of this breach, what was his response? Is there any legal impediment for the Minister to inform the House what were the consequences of the communication with the relevant Regulator?


On the other hand, if, in contrast to the Minister’s statement above, the relevant European regulator was not notified about this major breach at the bank in question, can the Minister explain the reason for breaking with his stated policy?




However, in response to the Deputy’s question my Department has been informed by the Central Bank of Ireland that an overnight liquidity breach was reported by an institution at the time referred to in the reports enclosed with the Deputy’s question. The Central Bank followed up on this liquidity breach with the institution, which rectified the position to the satisfaction of the Central Bank at the time.


Whistleblower, whose position as the offending bank’s Risk Manager had been ratified by the bank’s board of Directors, attended the office for at least six weeks after he notified the Regulator of said breach. Apart for the acknowledgement of the letter he handed to Regulator’s office informing him of the breach, no further communication was received from the Regulator’s office during this six weeks period. Can the Central Bank advise in what way he had ‘followed up on this liquidity breach’?


An elementary aspect of financial risk management is the practice of daily liquidity forecasting. According to the Regulator’s own directive “it is essential that both the qualitative and quantitative liquidity requirements are met on an on-going basis.”(Section 1.4). Does the Minister not find it puzzling that a breach of such magnitude could occur over-night. In what way was The Regulator able to ascertain that this breach was not the culmination of an un-monitored or un-reported deteriorating liquidity situation? How was the Regulator able to confirm that the offending bank was immediately able to rectify the situation?


The Regulator’s liquidity management requirements also stipulate that “Each credit institution must have a management information system that is adequate to measure, monitor, control and report liquidity risk considering the nature, size and complexity of the credit institution.” (Section 3.4) How was the Central Bank able to ‘satisfy’ itself that the flagrant breach of which it was notified was not an indication of a continuous malfunctioning of the bank’s Management Information Systems (MIS)?


Can the Minister shed some light on the involvement of the London-based IT consultancy which was brought into the bank to review its MIS according to Senator Norris? As there is written proof of this company’s alarming opinion of this MIS system, and given that this company was, and has been, put in charge of similar systems in Irish banks that have since then been guaranteed/nationalised by the state, is the Minister of the opinion that this IT company simply ‘got this one wrong’ in the case of the bank at which Whistleblower worked?




The Central Bank also required an external review of liquidity reports submitted to it and the related control environment. This review did not identify material issues relating to breaches of the required liquidity ratios, other than on the date highlighted by the institution.


Can the Minister please inform the House who carried out the external review? What were the findings of the external review? As Senator Norris stated, the significant liquidity breaches continued on a regular basis after the 20% breach had been reported to the Regulator. Senator Norris also mentioned having met a senior banking executive who attested to Whistleblower’s account of events. Therefore, how does the Minister explain the absence of any further findings by this ‘external review’?





The Central Bank imposes liquidity risk management requirements on all credit institutions. These are set out in ‘Requirements for the Management of Liquidity Risk,’ which are available to download from www.financialregulator.ie (http://www.financialregulator.ie/%20/%20_blank).


I have indeed downloaded the relevant documents from the Regulators website.


Document published in 2006:


http://www.financialregulator.ie/industry-sectors/credit-institutions/supervisory-disclosures/Documents/Requirements%20for%20Management%20Liquidity%20Risk .pdf (http://www.financialregulator.ie/industry-sectors/credit-institutions/supervisory-disclosures/Documents/Requirements%20for%20Management%20Liquidity%20Risk .pdf)


Document published in 2009:


http://www.financialregulator.ie/industry-sectors/credit-institutions/Documents/Requirements%20for%20management%20liquidity%20risk %20June%202009%20Final.pdf (http://www.financialregulator.ie/industry-sectors/credit-institutions/Documents/Requirements%20for%20management%20liquidity%20risk %20June%202009%20Final.pdf)


Can the Minister please explain why the liquidity requirements document issued in June 2009 refers to the already-existing liquidity regulations as “new” in section 1.3, despite the fact that they had already been published in 2006? How does the Minister explain the fact that the legal basis (section 1) in the 2009 makes reference to Central Bank Acts dating as far back as 1942, but yet nowhere in this entire document is there a reference to the 2006 document? How does the Minister explain the disappearance of Section 9.4 – Implementation from the 2009 document? Did the Financial Regulator retract the 2006 requirements? If so, when did he do so?

[C. Flower]

Both documents include Section 10 – Penalties. This section states that:
...In particular, section 58 of the Central Bank Act of 1971, which refers to Offences and punishments, as amended by the substitution of section 9 of the Central Bank Act, 1989, states that a holder of a licence who commits by act or omission a breach of a condition duly imposed and which relates to a licence shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable-


(i) “on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or to both, or
(ii) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £50,000 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, or to both,


....Section 60 of the 1971 Act contains an extension of the offending provisions. This states: “Where an offence under this Act is committed by a body corporate or by a person purporting to act on behalf of a body corporate or an unincorporated body of persons and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or approval of, or to have been facilitated by any wilful neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary, member of any committee of management or other controlling authority of such body or official of such body, such person shall also be guilty of the offence.”


In Minister Lenihan’s response to Senator Norris which was read out by Deputy Brady on 23 February 2010, Minister Lenihan stated that “Breaches of liquidity requirements may be subject to proceedings under the Financial Regulator’s administrative sanctions procedure or to prosecution.”


In view of Minister’s statement in the Seanad and the regulations and banking acts cited by the Regulator, can the Minister explain how and why was it determined that no administrative sanction procedures or prosecutions were to be initiated in the case of the bank where Whistleblower had worked?


In view of the well documented collapse of Hypo Real Estate in Germany due to the failing of Depfa – its Irish subsidiary, and the repeated cash injections of Irish tax payers’ money by the Minister’s government into Irish banks on account of their failure to meet liquidity requirements, can the Minister inform the House how many cases of administrative sanctions and/or prosecutions have been initiated against banks and their executives in Ireland? Can the Minister inform the House how many of the incidents of liquidity breaches which have been recorded by the Regulator have not resulted in sanctions? (A law unenforced is a law ignored.)


Can the Minister state how many institutions breached liquidity requirements since he came to office? what was the average percentage of the deviation of these breaches from the minimum threshold required by the Regulator? What was the average amount in Euro of these breaches? How often did they occur? Can the Minister describe what factors have influenced the Regulator’s decision not to prosecute?




Compliance with these requirements is monitored by a combination of on-site and off-site review and inspections.


As the Minister has made inquiries with the Central Bank after receiving this question last week, he would no doubt be able to inform the House when the on-site and off-site reviews and inspections were done in 2007 at the bank in which Whistleblower worked. Can the Minister please inform the House of the dates of these inspections and their subsequent findings?




All credit institutions are required to complete an annual internal audit review and submit this report to the Central Bank on compliance with the Requirements. In addition, Section 47 of the Central Bank Act, 1989, provides that where a credit institution's external auditor has reason to believe there are material defects in the financial systems and controls or accounting records of an institution or has reason to believe that there are material inaccuracies in or omissions from any returns of a financial nature submitted to the Central Bank, they are required to notify the Central Bank without delay.


Can the Minister inform the House if/when did external auditors act in accordance with Section 47 of the Central Bank Act, 1989, in relation to any of the Irish banks that were covered by the state guarantee which was introduced in September 2008?


In relation to the bank at which Whistleblower worked, how was the Central Bank able to confirm that both the bank’s internal auditors, and its external auditors, have been conforming to the Central Bank Acts cited above?




The Central Bank of Ireland has confirmed that this matter has now been fully investigated and the Central Bank is satisfied that all liquidity risk management requirements have been complied with and appropriate steps necessary to prevent any recurrence of this issue have now been taken by the institution concerned.


Given the above statement that ‘this matter has now been fully investigated and the Central Bank is satisfied etc’, can the Minister explain why the specific and severe allegations raised by Senator Norris nine months ago have not been addressed by the Minister at the Dail (parliament), or the Seanad (Senate) since then? At a time when Ireland has been battling to defend its beleaguered reputation in the financial markets the world-over, this silence has ill-served the nation’s best interests.


It is somewhat puzzling that the Minister was able set aside time in his extremely busy schedule to write an article for the English Financial Times last Thursday, an article in which he acknowledged the damage done to Ireland’s reputation under this government, but yet at no point in time over the last nine months did he trouble himself to ‘set the record straight’ regarding this 1900% breach of banking law which was recorded on the pages of the Irish Senate for posterity.

[Sidewinder]

Fascinating stuff, looking forward to further developments!

[bokonon]

Brian Lucey and Constantin Gurdgiev have Tweeted about this.

http://twitter.com/#!/brianmlucey/status/9314391056982016

Can people retweet please? Try to put some pressure on Joan Burton to come back on this as I'm sure she's got a few hundred billion other things going on.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I'm not surprised as the implications here are enormous and not just confined to Ireland. This does have ramifications for events elsewhere in Europe and Lenihan's response there to the issue falls short to say the least.

[TotalMayhem]

Lenihan's response there to the issue falls short to say the least.

When you mention Lenihan and a short fall, I envision a head in basket. ;)

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I would willingly take knitting lessons and a front row seat. I could develop a cackle for no extra charge.

[wickedfairy]

speaking about bankers, Julian reckons he has more corporate surprises coming, including a bank or two.

http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/11/29/an-interview-with-wikileaks-julian-assange/

[TotalMayhem]

speaking about bankers, Julian reckons he has more corporate surprises coming, including a bank or two.

That could be interesing...

Annoying the State Department and the Pentagon is one thing. P*ssing of banksters is an entirely different affair. They certainly won't waste time and resources with DDoS attacks or smear campaigns. The international crime syndicate is living by a very simple code and law: Omerta & 'Rules are for fools'. You break the former, you'll learn the meaning of the latter.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

speaking about bankers, Julian reckons he has more corporate surprises coming, including a bank or two.

http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/11/29/an-interview-with-wikileaks-julian-assange/

I wouldn't be at all surprised if wikileaks have come across embassy cables concerning certain banks and certain persons at boardroom level in the banks.

At this moment in time I would consider certain banks and banking practises as a greater danger to civilisation in the west than Al-Qaeda. By a country mile.

[TotalMayhem]

At this moment in time I would consider certain banks and banking practises as a greater danger to civilisation in the west than Al-Qaeda. By a country mile.

At this moment in time we can't afford the luxury of being selective.

[disability student]

I wonder... would the whistleblowers send their stuff to Julian as regards to state of our banks??

No incriminating documents re whistleblower IRL.

[C. Flower]

I wonder... would the whistleblowers send their stuff to Julian as regards to state of our banks??

No incriminating documents re whistleblower IRL.


Too slow. Wikileaks can take years to get stuff out.

Any whistleblowers are warmly invited to communicate with Politicalworld.org :)

[TotalMayhem]

David Malone's blog as far as I can see is exactly on the money

The same goes David Malone's latest blog post:

The cost of the bail out - just your democracy (http://golemxiv-credo.blogspot.com/)


What will it cost us to bail out the banks and keep the financial system from suffering its losses?

Well last week in Dublin we started to see the outlines of the answer.

It happened at a meeting of steely knives in Ireland's flesh at the Merrion Hotel in Dublin. Last week not only was the IMF delegation there but so, according to a Banker friend of mine who happened to be there too, were the French, Chinese and an Arab delegation.

So what were they all there to decide?

Well after a round of confidential meetings of representatives of 'bond holding nations' and officials from the EU, ECB and IMF, the EU/IMF held in press conference at which they began to unveil Ireland's political future. Here is a quote from Dan O'Brien, the Economics Editor of the Irish Times who was there listening.

"nothing quite symbolised this State’s loss of sovereignty than the press conference at which the ECB man spoke along with two IMF men and a European Commission official. It was held in the Government press centre beneath the Taoiseach’s office. I am a xenophile and cosmopolitan by nature, but to see foreign technocrats take over the very heart of the apparatus of this State to tell the media how the State will be run into the foreseeable future caused a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Loss of sovereignty is right. And it will come to us all. Ireland is NOT to make its bond holders nor the bond holders in its private banks share the pain. ALL the pain is to be taken by the Irish people. Even though billions of Euros of these loans were made by Private banks to people, institutions and other private banks NONE of them in Ireland, it will be the Irish people who will pay the debt.

And that will happen not just because financial experts at the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF have said it will, but because the continuation of all the ruination visited upon us so far by these people depends on it happening.

The banks are to be bailed out yet again. Not just those in Ireland but those in France, Germany, the US and the UK as well. Which is why for two days stock markets around the globe have rallied. The entire rally has been fueled by greed and relief predicated upon and caused by the rumour, now confirmed by M. Trichet, that one way or another the ECB will continue to buy up any bond of any degree of worthlessness from anyone who tenders it.

At the same time, on the same day (yesterday) the European Commission suggested the Portuguese government should cut its unemployment payouts. The Portuguese tartly replied it did not yet need any 'suggestions' from Europe.

And this caught my eye. It was an impolitic thing to say to any sovereign nation and particularly so when Portugal is watching as the bond speculators (AKA banks) push its debt costs up and up and the nation further and further into the quicksand of unpayable debt.

So why say it, why mess with the sovereignty of a second country and why now?

The answer is that the bail out and the 'suggestion' are intimately related.

In the conclusion of the Debt Generation book, I wrote this, from May of this year,

"...to quote one leading market analyst, ‘there are still doubts on whether the peripheral countries can deliver on austerity.’ That's their worry now. That is what the financial class sees as the proper and apparently only role of government. DELIVER ON AUSTERITY. That is what your government is for. Welcome to your future."

Things have moved on and the question the financial class have been mulling over is HOW?

We now have an embryonic version of their likely answer (http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/spn/2010/spn1019.pdf). It was released a week ago by the IMF. One of the names on its cover and the man who authorized its release as an official IMF document, is Ajai Chopra, who is head of the IMF mission to Ireland and was last week probably in the Merrion Hotel (can't be sure) and later was at the press conference.

Its title though dull hints at its agenda. "Lifting Euro area growth: Priorities for Structural reforms and Governance." It would have been more honest if it had been called Structural reform OF governance. For that is what it is about.

In the eyes of the IMF, finance requires that governance change - in the direction of removing democracy a step or two away from the people.

It has a few key points which it stresses.

This reform package would combine (i) a shift from labor to VAT taxes, (ii) a reduction in the level/duration in unemployment benefits and in early and old-age retirement schemes,

The IMF document says over and over again that what is wrong with Europe, what holds it back is its labour costs. They are too high. So first reduce tax on labour. Which means income tax should be reduced and the burden of tax shifted to VAT. Which means a shift from a graduated tax system where the higher the wage the higher the tax to a flat rate of tax.

The employer no longer has such a high wage bill and the tax burden shifts to the worker simply by re branding him/her as a consumer. The wealthy get taxed a LOT less and the poorer find all their essentials cost a lot more. VAT in the UK IS going up. Funny coincidence.

The IMF likes point (i) so much it says,

Shifting taxes away from the labor factor and toward consumption therefore presents strong potential for growth.

Also in the spirit of 'reform' AKA cutting the costs of paying people, there is point (ii) ... If people should become unemployed make sure they are paid less and for a set period after which they should forage as best they can, as befits those who are nothing but an economic liability and whose children will doubtless grow up to be the same. And when they get old keep them working for as long as possible and when they do eventually retire cut what they get paid.

All of that reduces taxes on the wealthy and on business, and cuts the tax base of the state thus ensuring even if some pesky left wingers do get in they will be in charge of a state that has no income. No chance of rebuilding any welfare without the cash to do it.

Then the IMF gets back to the cost of work and 'suggests',

Promoting decentralized wage bargaining... moderate minimum wage...softening employment protection,

Or, in English, cripple the unions and collective wage bargaining, reduce the minimum wage idea and make it far easier to fire and hire. Oh and 'harmonize qualifications'. Making a mockery of national standards.

This last point may seem soft but it is not. It gets to the rotten, anti-democratic core of the IMF and its 'reforms'. The IMF is non democratic and in its heart, distrusts it. It is and always has been One dollar one vote. The IMF believes in the rule of technocrats and ideologues - its own preferably. The IMF has spent half a century forcing governments to ignore their people and follow IMF diktats. It is what the IMF believes. It is what it knows.

EU-driven reforms have been more successful where national authority was delegated

Delegation is the dirty word here. Delegate too near to the unwashed people and nothing 'good' can be forced through.

Much of the paper talks about how new powers should be created and held at the European instead of national level . New powers OVER nations, of surveillance, funding and punishment. At one level, the idea of keeping an eye on errant debtor nations sounds fine. At another it is clearly about removing democratic control over tax, spending and financial regulation further from the people. It is about concentrating that power in the hands of fewer, more removed officials and panels of experts.

The EU would like to be seen as democratic and ideally the EU should be, but as it is presently constituted and run, it is in fact a mechanism for removing democratic control and making it ever more remote.

Here is another quote of how the IMF sees the EU.

The Single Market Program, coordinated by the European Commission, has been successful in opening product market access and leveling the playing field. By contrast, labor market and social policy reforms, left to national authorities, and subject only to peer pressure, have proceeded gingerly.

In other words the great success story of the EU, in the IMF's eyes, is the way Finance and services has been deregulated and markets opened. Which is exactly why and how we had German banks selling securities and making loans to southern Europe out of the 'self regulated' Dublin financial centre which caused the largest and still ongoing, continent-sized and systemically suicidal financial collapse of all time.

That is what the IMF and now the EU, in its almost limitless intellectual enslavement to a blind ideology is about. That is the model they want to impose on all aspects of our democracy.

Be seen to be in favour of democracy, but in reality cut off its balls and sell them to the financial class as sweet meats.

[C. Flower]

Just drafted this as a post for the PW blog - any suggestions for corrections or improvements would be appreciated:- It's in response to a long article on the Whistleblower's case by Kathleen Barrington, in today's SBP.


In the last two years, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE), the Financial Regulator and the Gardaí have been engaged in a prolonged investigation of the Irish banks. As yet, no cases have been brought and some key players have not yet been interviewed. The latest obstruction of justice involves a number of apparently unobtainable Anglo Irish Bank computer file passwords.

http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?t=2644&highlight=ODCE

How much easier, one would think, these enquiries would have been, if Ireland had had some banking insiders who would come forward and voluntarily given unvarnished evidence of what was going on inside the banking sector.

But we have had one whistleblower, who has reported a liquidity breach of 1,900 per cent, which he claims involved billions, to the Financial Regulator. He alleges that a series of breaches occurred in the IFSC subsidiary of a European Bank, for which he worked as a Risk Manager in 2007.

In today’s Sunday Business Post (Dec. 5th 2010, Markets M5), Kathleen Barrington reports that the authorities are coming under increasing pressure to account for their lack of action following the Whistleblower’s reports.

The Whistleblower resigned from his position in order to disassociate himself from breaches of rules which were potentially punishable by a fine or jail sentence.

Kathleen Barrington says that in spite of Senator David Norris and Joan Burton TD raising the alleged breaches in the Senate and Dáil and placing them on Parliamentary record, he feels that his questions have not been properly answered. Joan Burton’s question to the Minister of Finance, Brian Lenihan, was asked 25th November 2010 after the Whistleblower says he had been pressing members of the Opposition parties to raise the issue in the Oireachtas for months.

Barrington reports “Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan responded that the Central Bank of Ireland was subject to strict confidentiality requirements and consequently did not share information with his department, “unless the issue gives rise, for example, to some broader financial stability issue” which did not arise in this instance.”

From my personal standpoint, I would say that Brian Lenihan’s ability to spot and deal with stability issues has not been outstanding. A liquidity breach of billions may very likely be an indicator of a serious underlying problems and surely in its own right has the potential to destabilise one or more institutions ?

Brian Lenihan added that the Central Bank had followed the breach up at the time and was satisfied that it was a “one-off” occurrence.

The Whistleblower is now questioning how Lenihan could consider a breach of 1,900% magnitude, in the sum of billions, could not threaten wider financial stability. He is asking if the European Regulator was informed. He also wants to know who carried out an external review of the bank in question, referred to by Lenihan, and what its findings were and is questioning why the Financial Regulator referred to current regulations as “new”, when they were not.

At this stage, no one has been prosecuted in relation to the liquidity breaches and it appears no sanctions have been applied to the Bank. The Whistleblower, in contrast, is having to fight to get a hearing for his concerns, with scant attention from the Press, other than the redoubtable Barrington.

Which is more powerful in Ireland, we have to ask ourselves – democratically adopted law and regulation, or the Code of Omerta which punishes any insider who breaks ranks to tell the truth ?

Light touch regulation at the IFSC and elsewhere in Ireland has done terrible damage both here and to people and companies who invested here. In 2007-2008, when the Whistleblower was doing his best to ensure good practice in regulation, Taoiseach Brian Cowen was heading up an unusual working group –

“The Advisory Forum on Financial Legislation was set up by Cowen when he was Minister for Finance and held seven meetings between the autumn of 2007 and November 2008. It was quietly disbanded during 2009 at a time when light-touch, or principles-based, regulation was being increasingly blamed for contributing to Ireland’s regulatory failures.

…The forum was chaired by Pádraig Ó Ríordáin, the managing partner of Arthur Cox solicitors, and the membership of the forum, as well as its drafting subgroups, was dominated by the financial industry and the private sector. A Finance position paper from March 2007 stated: “Lawyers from the important sectors of banking, insurance, funds and investment sectors would be closely involved in the steering group.

In a private address to the forum in January 2008, Mr Cowen said he had established it with full Government approval to ensure full “involvement of the wider community of interests. The forum’s task was to prepare for “cross-sectoral principles-led regulation of the financial sector” within 12 months”.
The Irish Times - Monday, April 26, 2010

The energies lacking in implementing regulations were perhaps being used up elsewhere...

I have suggested over the last few months whether the German Government’s aggressive response to the terms of the EU- Ireland “bailout” loan agreement may stem from the serious financial hits incurred through the likes of DEPFA. Barrington agrees. She points to more than €100 billion losses occurred by German banking subsidiaries in Ireland. Ironically, in Ireland, one increasingly hears references to reckless German investors and bankers who, some economic commentators say, invested in risky Irish bonds at high interest and now want to be paid in full by the Irish people.

Given the interconnectedness and interdependence of the “national” parts of the international finance sector, it seems to me to be a red herring to see this as a national issue. Rather, it’s an conflict between the caste of people who have and hold wealth and are powerful enough to bend (or break) the rules and get away with it, and those struggling day to day to earn their livings, who are expected to carry the can, whether they are Irish, German, Belgian or Greeks.

The Whistleblower has shone a narrow and focused spotlight on one area of potentially lethal risk that existed in the banking sector in Ireland. We owe him a profound debt of gratitude for his efforts. As the full extent of the carnage resulting from the International banking crash emerges, will others, finally step forward and open the sector up to the full glare of broad daylight ?

http://whistleblowerirl.blogspot.com

[TotalMayhem]

"Light touch regulation at the IFSC" was not the only factor attracting these elements to Ireland. Don't forget the low corporation tax which is still seen as a Holy Cow by many in this country.

[C. Flower]

"Light touch regulation at the IFSC" was not the only factor attracting these elements to Ireland. Don't forget the low corporation tax which is still seen as a Holy Cow by many in this country.

And the mysterious "subsidiary" arrangements that I don't understand at all...

[micko]

Can any of/this be correlated with the list of Anglo Irish Bondholders as leaked by Guido?

Just a thought ..........
hi,
can you pls point me to the leaked anglo bondholders, as posted by guido?
thanks

[TotalMayhem]

hi,
can you pls point me to the leaked anglo bondholders, as posted by guido?
thanks

Anglo Irish Bondholders At Close of Business Tonight - Guido Fawkes Out to Rattle Irish Government ? (http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?t=4920)

[micko]

Couple of things ... Brian Lenihan is carefully attempting to give the impression that the complaint refers to a one-off event on a one-off day. Thats horseshyte and well he knows it.

If anyone wants to check whether banks in Ireland or anywhere else in Europe have adhered to liquidity ratios they only have to examine the large holes in their balance sheets with the taxpayer funded patches over them.

Basically at least one native bank and one large foreign bank I know of were doing a Quinn- gambling on derivatives WAY beyond what they would have been allowed to do under regulations around liquidity ratios in their home countries.

I hear of German banks flying staff in from Germany to Dublin to a low regulatory regime to do so and disguising what they were doing by using only the subsidiary of the parent bank to do it.

The second thing is that Lenihan is attempting to shove breaches of liquidity ratios under the secrecy around Central Bank regulation. The operations of the Central Bank itself may be subject to confidentiality but its role as regulator is not.

He then mentions that its the duty of an external auditor to highlight any breaches of liquidity ratios. Rubbish again.

Lenihan and co have been busy telling everyone that the likes of Ernst and Young cannot be held responsible as auditors for wrongdoing in books they sign off. Now he's saying that auditors are responsible perhaps up to 9 months after breaches of liquidity ratios to suddenly alert directors and regulators that something may be wrong.

I am getting tired of Brian Lenihan and his games.

Imagine if you will the Jerome Kerval affair at Societe General. Its a bit like the French Finance Minister saying one can't expect something like that to be uncovered until there is an annual audit at SG.

Bull. All banks involved in the markets are required to maintain capital requirements and liquidity ratios at all times and not just when the audit comes round. They have risk managers and corporate governance systems which report risk in this areas at monthly if not weekly or daily intervals to senior managers. EDIT: In fact banks have internal risk management departments which monitor capital ratios and other liquidity risks on a DAILY basis which have to be signed off.
Brian is getting mixed up with Central Bank operations secrecy and regulations concerning the running of private banks. Deliberately- in addition to carefully trying to give the impression the above events happened on a once-off basis on one day which was immediately corrected. How come the Maple 10 transaction was arranged when the bank realised immediately that Quinn's travails could result in 10% of the banks shares being dumped on the market? Did Ernst and Young spot that? No. It was the bank's internal risk reports to directors and phone calls to and fro with Sean Quinn. If thats the regulatory regime how come Sean Quinn became exposed to a nosedive in Anglo share value while holding Contracts for Difference at one point equating to 25% of Anglo's stock?

Horseshyte Lennie. Absolute horseshyte.
was it not the sunday business post that broke the sean quinn Anglo share gamble story?

I used to believe that financial risks in banks had to be closed off at the end of every day, eg, foreign exchange exposure.

But then Wall Street invented the derivatives market. It is now rather big ($1.2 quadrillion!) and unregulated.
"One of the biggest risks to the world's financial health is the $1.2 quadrillion derivatives market. It's complex, it's unregulated, and it ought to be of concern to world leaders that its notional value is 20 times the size of the world economy.

See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/99t8PV"

It seems we were sunk by a cross between a pyramid scheme and an unregulated gambling addiction within international banks that took place worldwide on an unimaginable scale and which originated on Wall Street?

Was it too much to expect our political leaders and our mensa-level (according to their salaries, degrees, phD's and bench marking anyway) bureaucrats to protect us from this?

[TotalMayhem]

Was it too much to expect our political leaders and our mensa-level (according to their salaries, degrees, phD's and bench marking anyway) bureaucrats to protect us from this?

They're paid to protect the ponzi scheme, not US!

[micko]

Just drafted this as a post for the PW blog - any suggestions for corrections or improvements would be appreciated:- It's in response to a long article on the Whistleblower's case by Kathleen Barrington, in today's SBP.


In the last two years, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE), the Financial Regulator and the Gardaí have been engaged in a prolonged investigation of the Irish banks. As yet, no cases have been brought and some key players have not yet been interviewed. The latest obstruction of justice involves a number of apparently unobtainable Anglo Irish Bank computer file passwords.

http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?t=2644&highlight=ODCE

How much easier, one would think, these enquiries would have been, if Ireland had had some banking insiders who would come forward and voluntarily given unvarnished evidence of what was going on inside the banking sector.

But we have had one whistleblower, who has reported a liquidity breach of 1,900 per cent, which he claims involved billions, to the Financial Regulator. He alleges that a series of breaches occurred in the IFSC subsidiary of a European Bank, for which he worked as a Risk Manager in 2007.

In today’s Sunday Business Post (Dec. 5th 2010, Markets M5), Kathleen Barrington reports that the authorities are coming under increasing pressure to account for their lack of action following the Whistleblower’s reports.

The Whistleblower resigned from his position in order to disassociate himself from breaches of rules which were potentially punishable by a fine or jail sentence.

Kathleen Barrington says that in spite of Senator David Norris and Joan Burton TD raising the alleged breaches in the Senate and Dáil and placing them on Parliamentary record, he feels that his questions have not been properly answered. Joan Burton’s question to the Minister of Finance, Brian Lenihan, was asked 25th November 2010 after the Whistleblower says he had been pressing members of the Opposition parties to raise the issue in the Oireachtas for months.

Barrington reports “Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan responded that the Central Bank of Ireland was subject to strict confidentiality requirements and consequently did not share information with his department, “unless the issue gives rise, for example, to some broader financial stability issue” which did not arise in this instance.”

From my personal standpoint, I would say that Brian Lenihan’s ability to spot and deal with stability issues has not been outstanding. A liquidity breach of billions may very likely be an indicator of a serious underlying problems and surely in its own right has the potential to destabilise one or more institutions ?

Brian Lenihan added that the Central Bank had followed the breach up at the time and was satisfied that it was a “one-off” occurrence.

The Whistleblower is now questioning how Lenihan could consider a breach of 1,900% magnitude, in the sum of billions, could not threaten wider financial stability. He is asking if the European Regulator was informed. He also wants to know who carried out an external review of the bank in question, referred to by Lenihan, and what its findings were and is questioning why the Financial Regulator referred to current regulations as “new”, when they were not.

At this stage, no one has been prosecuted in relation to the liquidity breaches and it appears no sanctions have been applied to the Bank. The Whistleblower, in contrast, is having to fight to get a hearing for his concerns, with scant attention from the Press, other than the redoubtable Barrington.

Which is more powerful in Ireland, we have to ask ourselves – democratically adopted law and regulation, or the Code of Omerta which punishes any insider who breaks ranks to tell the truth ?

Light touch regulation at the IFSC and elsewhere in Ireland has done terrible damage both here and to people and companies who invested here. In 2007-2008, when the Whistleblower was doing his best to ensure good practice in regulation, Taoiseach Brian Cowen was heading up an unusual working group –

“The Advisory Forum on Financial Legislation was set up by Cowen when he was Minister for Finance and held seven meetings between the autumn of 2007 and November 2008. It was quietly disbanded during 2009 at a time when light-touch, or principles-based, regulation was being increasingly blamed for contributing to Ireland’s regulatory failures.

…The forum was chaired by Pádraig Ó Ríordáin, the managing partner of Arthur Cox solicitors, and the membership of the forum, as well as its drafting subgroups, was dominated by the financial industry and the private sector. A Finance position paper from March 2007 stated: “Lawyers from the important sectors of banking, insurance, funds and investment sectors would be closely involved in the steering group.

In a private address to the forum in January 2008, Mr Cowen said he had established it with full Government approval to ensure full “involvement of the wider community of interests. The forum’s task was to prepare for “cross-sectoral principles-led regulation of the financial sector” within 12 months”.
The Irish Times - Monday, April 26, 2010

The energies lacking in implementing regulations were perhaps being used up elsewhere...

I have suggested over the last few months whether the German Government’s aggressive response to the terms of the EU- Ireland “bailout” loan agreement may stem from the serious financial hits incurred through the likes of DEPFA. Barrington agrees. She points to more than €100 billion losses occurred by German banking subsidiaries in Ireland. Ironically, in Ireland, one increasingly hears references to reckless German investors and bankers who, some economic commentators say, invested in risky Irish bonds at high interest and now want to be paid in full by the Irish people.

Given the interconnectedness and interdependence of the “national” parts of the international finance sector, it seems to me to be a red herring to see this as a national issue. Rather, it’s an conflict between the caste of people who have and hold wealth and are powerful enough to bend (or break) the rules and get away with it, and those struggling day to day to earn their livings, who are expected to carry the can, whether they are Irish, German, Belgian or Greeks.

The Whistleblower has shone a narrow and focused spotlight on one area of potentially lethal risk that existed in the banking sector in Ireland. We owe him a profound debt of gratitude for his efforts. As the full extent of the carnage resulting from the International banking crash emerges, will others, finally step forward and open the sector up to the full glare of broad daylight ?

http://whistleblowerirl.blogspot.com
The issue of unbreakable codes in a bank is bull. Banks do not have access to unbreakable codes.

those codes are easily broken. the Gardai have "international" and local access to codebreaking software.

The Gardai took millions of documents, thus thwarting any other investigation and they have been "looking into it" for two years. The mention of codes is an excuse for something else.

[SeanD6]

It would be interesting to know if WhistleblowerIRL went to the Gardai. Has anyone asked him? is asking?

[mutley]

It would be interesting to know if WhistleblowerIRL went to the Gardai. Has anyone asked him? is asking?

Hope he wears a helmet if he goes anywhere near the Gardai

[ang]

Just drafted this as a post for the PW blog - any suggestions for corrections or improvements would be appreciated:- It's in response to a long article on the Whistleblower's case by Kathleen Barrington, in today's SBP.


In the last two years, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE), the Financial Regulator and the Gardaí have been engaged in a prolonged investigation of the Irish banks. As yet, no cases have been brought and some key players have not yet been interviewed. The latest obstruction of justice involves a number of apparently unobtainable Anglo Irish Bank computer file passwords.

http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?t=2644&highlight=ODCE

How much easier, one would think, these enquiries would have been, if Ireland had had some banking insiders who would come forward and voluntarily given unvarnished evidence of what was going on inside the banking sector.

But we have had one whistleblower, who has reported a liquidity breach of 1,900 per cent, which he claims involved billions, to the Financial Regulator. He alleges that a series of breaches occurred in the IFSC subsidiary of a European Bank, for which he worked as a Risk Manager in 2007.

In today’s Sunday Business Post (Dec. 5th 2010, Markets M5), Kathleen Barrington reports that the authorities are coming under increasing pressure to account for their lack of action following the Whistleblower’s reports.

The Whistleblower resigned from his position in order to disassociate himself from breaches of rules which were potentially punishable by a fine or jail sentence.

Kathleen Barrington says that in spite of Senator David Norris and Joan Burton TD raising the alleged breaches in the Senate and Dáil and placing them on Parliamentary record, he feels that his questions have not been properly answered. Joan Burton’s question to the Minister of Finance, Brian Lenihan, was asked 25th November 2010 after the Whistleblower says he had been pressing members of the Opposition parties to raise the issue in the Oireachtas for months.

Barrington reports “Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan responded that the Central Bank of Ireland was subject to strict confidentiality requirements and consequently did not share information with his department, “unless the issue gives rise, for example, to some broader financial stability issue” which did not arise in this instance.”

From my personal standpoint, I would say that Brian Lenihan’s ability to spot and deal with stability issues has not been outstanding. A liquidity breach of billions may very likely be an indicator of a serious underlying problems and surely in its own right has the potential to destabilise one or more institutions ?

Brian Lenihan added that the Central Bank had followed the breach up at the time and was satisfied that it was a “one-off” occurrence.

The Whistleblower is now questioning how Lenihan could consider a breach of 1,900% magnitude, in the sum of billions, could not threaten wider financial stability. He is asking if the European Regulator was informed. He also wants to know who carried out an external review of the bank in question, referred to by Lenihan, and what its findings were and is questioning why the Financial Regulator referred to current regulations as “new”, when they were not.

At this stage, no one has been prosecuted in relation to the liquidity breaches and it appears no sanctions have been applied to the Bank. The Whistleblower, in contrast, is having to fight to get a hearing for his concerns, with scant attention from the Press, other than the redoubtable Barrington.

Which is more powerful in Ireland, we have to ask ourselves – democratically adopted law and regulation, or the Code of Omerta which punishes any insider who breaks ranks to tell the truth ?

Light touch regulation at the IFSC and elsewhere in Ireland has done terrible damage both here and to people and companies who invested here. In 2007-2008, when the Whistleblower was doing his best to ensure good practice in regulation, Taoiseach Brian Cowen was heading up an unusual working group –

“The Advisory Forum on Financial Legislation was set up by Cowen when he was Minister for Finance and held seven meetings between the autumn of 2007 and November 2008. It was quietly disbanded during 2009 at a time when light-touch, or principles-based, regulation was being increasingly blamed for contributing to Ireland’s regulatory failures.

…The forum was chaired by Pádraig Ó Ríordáin, the managing partner of Arthur Cox solicitors, and the membership of the forum, as well as its drafting subgroups, was dominated by the financial industry and the private sector. A Finance position paper from March 2007 stated: “Lawyers from the important sectors of banking, insurance, funds and investment sectors would be closely involved in the steering group.

In a private address to the forum in January 2008, Mr Cowen said he had established it with full Government approval to ensure full “involvement of the wider community of interests. The forum’s task was to prepare for “cross-sectoral principles-led regulation of the financial sector” within 12 months”.
The Irish Times - Monday, April 26, 2010

The energies lacking in implementing regulations were perhaps being used up elsewhere...

I have suggested over the last few months whether the German Government’s aggressive response to the terms of the EU- Ireland “bailout” loan agreement may stem from the serious financial hits incurred through the likes of DEPFA. Barrington agrees. She points to more than €100 billion losses occurred by German banking subsidiaries in Ireland. Ironically, in Ireland, one increasingly hears references to reckless German investors and bankers who, some economic commentators say, invested in risky Irish bonds at high interest and now want to be paid in full by the Irish people.

Given the interconnectedness and interdependence of the “national” parts of the international finance sector, it seems to me to be a red herring to see this as a national issue. Rather, it’s an conflict between the caste of people who have and hold wealth and are powerful enough to bend (or break) the rules and get away with it, and those struggling day to day to earn their livings, who are expected to carry the can, whether they are Irish, German, Belgian or Greeks.

The Whistleblower has shone a narrow and focused spotlight on one area of potentially lethal risk that existed in the banking sector in Ireland. We owe him a profound debt of gratitude for his efforts. As the full extent of the carnage resulting from the International banking crash emerges, will others, finally step forward and open the sector up to the full glare of broad daylight ?

http://whistleblowerirl.blogspot.com

Great post for the blog Cactus.

It is also noteable that Angela Merkel has notified her Financial Institutions that they have two years left to collect debts in full, after that renegotiation is on the table.

Ireland has been forced to spend it's pension fund upfront to contribute to paying off these "debts" just in case we may suddenly decide structured default is on the table before 2013.

The Bank Guarantee decision has now been thrown in to question by John Gormley and it would seem the crisis was "orchestrated" to save the few (at a time determined by whom and why) but brought down a Nation with it.

[C. Flower]

Great post for the blog Cactus.

It is also noteable that Angela Merkel has notified her Financial Institutions that they have two years left to collect debts in full, after that renegotiation is on the table.

Ireland has been forced to spend it's pension fund upfront to contribute to paying off these "debts" just in case we may suddenly decide structured default is on the table before 2013.

The Bank Guarantee decision has now been thrown in to question by John Gormley and it would seem the crisis was "orchestrated" to save the few (at a time determined by whom and why) but brought down a Nation with it.

Merkel's idea is that we pay off the German banks before defaulting and being booted out of the Eurozone. We don't buy much from Germany and they are furious that we cost them over 100 billion on the DEPFA collapse - even without the German holders of Irish bank and sovereign debt being counted.

English journalists in the FT, Observer and Guardian are queuing up to write sympathetic "don't starve the Irish" articles, because we are an important export market for the UK. They would also be happy enough to see the German finance sector, their competitors, severely stung by an Irish default.

The Whistleblower's experience suggests that European banks from outside Ireland were using the IFSC subsidiaries to play fast and loose in a way that would have been prevented, quite possibly, in their "home states".
Nationalism and xenophobia about evil or corrupt bankers from different countries misses the point that the Finance Sector is international and money shifts around to find the spot where it can do most damage...:D

[micko]

Anglo Irish Bondholders At Close of Business Tonight - Guido Fawkes Out to Rattle Irish Government ? (http://www.politicalworld.org/showthread.php?t=4920)
thanks.

[micko]

If there are any Constitutional lawyers reading this thread, or known to members, can they advise whether a successful Constitutional action could be taken against our Government for not speaking openly and truthfully about the spending and commitment of so much of the nation's wealth to save Anglo and INBS.

I don't want to be too dramatic or to overstate what has happened but we should be 100% sure that so many billions are being wisely spent on our behalf.

There is a scary silence and lack of clarity from the opposition regarding what they will do to investigate and correct the excesses of the current government (over paying themselves salaries, expenses, pensions, abusive use of the government jet and chauffeur driven state owned cars, lack of civil service reform since 1991...eg, SMI, sale of Eircom (enabling well connected supporters to make hundreds of millions), sale of ICC Bank (a successful state owned business bank) which is being closed down, politicians and friends involved in rezoning and property development, bribes disguised as wins on horses, tipping off friends about impending tax incentives or deregulation, tribunals manned by incompetents so that they will take years to complete (if ever) thereby making millions for legal friends, appointing friends to the Judiciary, Financial Regulator, Ombudsman, etc.)

The quid pro quo to keep everyone on side and protect the gravy train involves the appointment of High Profile opposition people and retired senior civil servants to well paid positions in the "public interest". Others have been shut up regarding institutional incompetence with generous lump sums and pension top ups when they are forced from office by their apparent personal incompetence.

Hence my question about a possible Constitutional action to hold the all these guys, and the guys who will shortly be getting the keys to the sweetshop, accountable.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

[bokonon]

Very good piece CF.

Kathleen Barrington's article is up on the Business Post now:

http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/wholestory.aspx-qqqt=THE+INSIDER-qqqs=themarket-qqqsectionid=3-qqqc=3.7.0.0-qqqn=1-qqqx=1.asp

[matt]

The Whistleblower's experience suggests that European banks from outside Ireland were using the IFSC subsidiaries to play fast and loose in a way that would have been prevented, quite possibly, in their "home states".
Nationalism and xenophobia about evil or corrupt bankers from different countries misses the point that the Finance Sector is international and money shifts around to find the spot where it can do most damage...:D

Absolutely - but having a look at english language-versions of Der Spiegel, Figaro and numerous lesser entities on the web, there is a distinct tone to their articles that describe these events as something for which the Irish are collectively responsible.
Any criticism of the EU or Germany is lambasted as evidence of 'ingratitiude'.
Very much 'Look what we gave these idiots and look what they done' - naming not individual institutions or politicians in this regard but referring instead to 'the Irish'.
As you say, the Finance Sector is international; and the true facts that led to the present condition need to be broadcast further afield. As you're aware, I made a small attempt myself to link the articles and posts contained on this thread & elsewhere, posting them to International journalists abroad & so forth - others have been more competent & successful in this regard. If anybody has moderately good german, french, etc, it would be very helpful if they could engage with forums & journalists in europe - translate the essentials from Kathleesn Barrington's articles, Whistleblower's blog and some of the excellent posts on this thread - we're getting hung out to dry here.

[C. Flower]

Absolutely - but having a look at english language-versions of Der Spiegel, Figaro and numerous lesser entities on the web, there is a distinct tone to their articles that describe these events as something for which the Irish are collectively responsible.
Any criticism of the EU or Germany is lambasted as evidence of 'ingratitiude'.
Very much 'Look what we gave these idiots and look what they done' - naming not individual institutions or politicians in this regard but referring instead to 'the Irish'.

As you say, the Finance Sector is international; and the true facts that led to the present condition need to be broadcast further afield. As you're aware, I made a small attempt myself to link the articles and posts contained on this thread & elsewhere, posting them to International journalists abroad & so forth - others have been more competent & successful in this regard. If anybody has moderately good german, french, etc, it would be very helpful if they could engage with forums & journalists in europe - translate the essentials from Kathleen Barrington's articles, Whistleblower's blog and some of the excellent posts on this thread - we're getting hung out to dry here.


This is something that would be very welcome. And the more we can resist attempts to get us to see this as a bad Germans vs. Irish victims issue, or vice versa, the better. A Face Book page might be one way of dealing with this.

The German salaried classes worked hard for more tha ten years with their wages at a standstill while the finance sector played games with their deposits and pension funds in the bond markets through the IFSC and elsewhere.

[Kev Bar]

This is something that would be very welcome. And the more we can resist attempts to get us to see this as a bad Germans vs. Irish victims issue, or vice versa, the better. A Face Book page might be one way of dealing with this.

The German salaried classes worked hard for more tha ten years with their wages at a standstill while the finance sector played games with their deposits and pension funds in the bond markets through the IFSC and elsewhere.

A facebook page wld be no harm.

But really any foreign (financial) journalists who can't find the work and sources alluded to for themselves are probably not going to write anything worthwhile anyhow. Last time I looked, Kathleen Barrington wasn't working for some digitally deprived underground press.

[C. Flower]

A facebook page wld be no harm.

But really any foreign (financial) journalists who can't find the work and sources alluded to for themselves are probably not going to write anything worthwhile anyhow. Last time I looked, Kathleen Barrington wasn't working for some digitally deprived underground press.

Nobody said she was.... Someone was making a point here about international views of Ireland, not about the resources of Irish journalists reporting on Irish based stories.

"digitally deprived" ? :confused: :)

[Kev Bar]

Nobody said she was.... Someone was making a point here about international views of Ireland, not about the resources of Irish journalists reporting on Irish based stories.

"digitally deprived" ? :confused: :)

I too was talking about "foreign" journos.
German/European journalists, if they are any good, should be able to dig this up ... The Sunday Business Post is on the internet.
(I am not sure if KB has all her fingers)

[C. Flower]

I too was talking about "foreign" journos.
German/European journalists, if they are any good, should be able to dig this up ... The Sunday Business Post is on the internet.
(I am not sure if KB has all her fingers)


Well they should, but apparently they don't. No one is particularly keen to look under the carpet on this one. KB reported on this first five months ago, and we've followed it, and various related German, Italian and Austrian banking matters, ever since. There was very little reaction from either the Irish or international press. KB is to be commended for going at it again.

The Whistleblower's new website is of course doing a good job, and is getting some attention, I believe, from foreign press.

[Kev Bar]

Well they should, but apparently they don't. No one is particularly keen to look under the carpet on this one. KB reported on this first five months ago, and we've followed it, and various related German, Italian and Austrian banking matters, ever since. There was very little reaction from either the Irish or international press. KB is to be commended for going at it again.

The Whistleblower's new website is of course doing a good job, and is getting some attention, I believe, from foreign press.

Whistleblower's blog - certainly starting to show links...in more than single 'digits'.

KB's column - think it's time she changed the title of from "The Insider" to "The Outsider."

[C. Flower]

Whistleblower's blog - certainly starting to show links...in more than single 'digits'.

KB's column - think it's time she changed the title of from "The Insider" to "The Outsider."

Anything to say about the topic, Kev Bar ? The substance of the thing ?

[Kev Bar]

Anything to say about the topic, Kev Bar ? The substance of the thing ?

Yes. We need to put a little hate into regulate.

A supposedly treasonous comment a mere few years ago.

[Béal na Bláth]

It seems we were sunk by a cross between a pyramid scheme and an unregulated gambling addiction within international banks that took place worldwide on an unimaginable scale and which originated on Wall Street?

+1. Add to that copious amounts of cocaine, testosterone and planet-sized egos and you explain the whole sorry mess.


Was it too much to expect our political leaders and our mensa-level (according to their salaries, degrees, phD's and bench marking anyway) bureaucrats to protect us from this?

It obviously was way too much to expect from our cossetted establishment. That's going to change though, nothing surer.

[Béal na Bláth]

Absolutely - but having a look at english language-versions of Der Spiegel, Figaro and numerous lesser entities on the web, there is a distinct tone to their articles that describe these events as something for which the Irish are collectively responsible.
Any criticism of the EU or Germany is lambasted as evidence of 'ingratitiude'.
Very much 'Look what we gave these idiots and look what they done' - naming not individual institutions or politicians in this regard but referring instead to 'the Irish'.
As you say, the Finance Sector is international; and the true facts that led to the present condition need to be broadcast further afield. As you're aware, I made a small attempt myself to link the articles and posts contained on this thread & elsewhere, posting them to International journalists abroad & so forth - others have been more competent & successful in this regard. If anybody has moderately good german, french, etc, it would be very helpful if they could engage with forums & journalists in europe - translate the essentials from Kathleesn Barrington's articles, Whistleblower's blog and some of the excellent posts on this thread - we're getting hung out to dry here.

I was also browsing through Zeit and Spiegel etc and using Google to translate from German. It went from being described as "Depfa" a subsidiary of HRE, to "Depfa" the Irish subsidiary of HRE somewhere in 2009. The German Meeja helped whip this up to an extent.

This article is from August 08 Capitalism in Crisis - The Broken Pact with the People (http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,583007,00.html)


A number of German bank managers are outraged that the German government has not immediately launched an initiative to save them all. They have never been modest, so why start now? They of course know that there is an enormous fear of a huge crash. So they brazenly dance on the limb that they themselves have started to saw. And naturally they have no problems with the fact that Depfa, a bank that moved to Ireland to lower its tax bill, should now be saved with German tax money.

[C. Flower]

I was also browsing through Zeit and Spiegel etc and using Google to translate from German. It went from being described as "Depfa" a subsidiary of HRE, to "Depfa" the Irish subsidiary of HRE somewhere in 2009. The German Meeja helped whip this up to an extent.

This article is from August 08 Capitalism in Crisis - The Broken Pact with the People (http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,583007,00.html)



In Germany, Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück has had to save Hypo Real Estate in a hastily organized bailout operation, and Josef Ackermann, the CEO of Deutsche Bank -- a man who was once a high-flying champion of capitalism -- has been calling for the government to launch a rescue package, which is paramount to providing welfare to banks.


Who would have thought that Ackermann would one day join the ranks of Germany’s unemployed and low wage earners in asking for government aid? The poor had long hoped that the state would help them out of their economic plight. People like Ackermann though -- those who place a great deal of faith in the power in the power and freedom of the individual -- blasted them. Now, taxpayers are expected to help Ackermann's industry out of a jam.

The insanity of the situation becomes clear when we look back to the years 2003 to 2005. At the time, then-German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of the center-left Social Democrats pushed through his Agenda 2010 reform package. Long-term unemployment payments were scrapped. Those who lost their job knew that time was short before benefits would shrink to those mandated by the new welfare plan known as Hartz IV.
During those years, the economic debate was dominated by true-blue capitalists who sought to limit government intervention. This was the heyday of a neo-liberal ideology that placed its faith in the strengths of the individual and the free market. The word “government” became virtually synonymous with harassment, suffocation, inefficiency and a lack of freedom. Deregulation was the magic formula of the day.


Now we're being told regulation may solve the problem, along with cautious recapitalisation of the banks. But everyone knows that this will deflate and shrink the economy leading to defaults.

"The debt death spiral".

[C. Flower]

Real wages stagnated while investment income and corporate profits soared. At the same time, the gap between rich and poor continued to grow, causing the middle class to shrink.



People were increasingly outraged over the injustice of the situation when a number of managers negotiated golden handshakes worth millions, despite weak performances. The head of Deutsche Post, Klaus Zumwinkel, will have to face criminal charges for allegedly depositing money in a Liechtenstein foundation to evade taxes in Germany.

In the German press, the word "American" became shorthand for greed. Many managers demanded “American” salaries of over $10 million (€7.25 million) a year. They targeted “American” earnings for their companies. Ackermann aimed for profits of 25 percent. German savers were recommended to take an “American” approach to their investments. Saving accounts and government bonds were passé and investing and gambling with stocks was all the rage because it held out the promise of higher returns.


Thanks B na B - that is a very interesting picture of what was happening in Germany in the Celtic Tiger years.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

This is the political other shoe that I'm waiting to hear drop. Sooner or later the German financial journalists will start noticing the holes in their other banks and asking where'd they come from and Little Helmut is going to have to tell them what they've already told Frau Merkel- that German banks seem to have had a fair ould involvement beyond German regulatory constraints and a lot of it put through Dublin.

The Austrian banks with the nominee account system behind which perfectly respectable bondholders could hide along with all sorts of mysteriously named parties such as hedge funds and currency speculators and other gamblers in the biggest online poker game there is.

Not to mention the opportunity under all that derivative activity to wash money out of the wild East of Europe and into the western banking system.

Apart from traditional laundrette facilities most notably offered to the Mafia in Italy (N'Drangheta or Calabrian Mafia) when two Austrian banks called Raifeisson and Anglo-Irish Bank Austria AG were named as the banks through which the Calabrian Mafia were routing money on dates between 2005 and 2007 in a fake invoicing scam set up to run through two subsidiaries of Italy if not the world's largest mobile phone telecoms company. Friend of Berlusconi got lifted in that 56 person bust, a Senator Nicola Gerolami of Berlusconi's party along with a former Omnitel executive called Silvio Scaglia.

Italy- fuhgeddaboutit. One of the largest banks in Italy is under the spotlight for money laundering offences.

The western European banks seemed to have been remarkably quick to lend oceans of money to eastern Europe in the last ten years as well. They seem to have built up enormous loan books in a relatively short time.

One hopes that all that money slushing around in cash in the east from disreputable sources is firmly kept at bay by our superior banking regulatory system. Wouldn't want them to get mixed up with our derivative markets now would we? There'd be all sorts of confusion. And then we wouldn't know what money was hot and what was icey breezey.

Sounds like the premise of a dodgy airport novel doesn't it? If only.

[C. Flower]

This thread is live !

[SeanD6]

Has anyone seen this?

"Madoff Trustee Seeks $19.6 Billion From Austrian Banker"

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/madoff-trustee-seeks-19-6-billion-from-austrian-banker/

The article states that:


"Both Bank Austria and its current owner, UniCredit, Italy’s largest bank, are named as defendants in this lawsuit — which cites their ties to Ms. Kohn — and in the earlier complaint filed against HSBC, the global bank based in London.

UniCredit said in a statement on Friday that its policy was not to comment on litigation but that it intended to vigorously defend itself against the accusations made against it and its Bank Austria unit. The 157-page complaint claimed that about half the Ponzi scheme’s stolen funds — $9.1 billion out of an estimated $19.6 billion — was directly attributable to Ms. Kohn, her family members and their elaborate portfolio of feeder funds.

The amount makes “these actors arguably the single most critical building block — the ‘sine qua non’ — of the Ponzi scheme,” said Timothy S. Pfeifer, a partner at Baker & Hostetler, the trustee’s law firm."

I have just noticed that Whilstleblower's website contains some links regarding Madoff, Bank Austria, UniCredit and Pioneer Dublin. Here is an intriguing link that I got on his/her site:
http://securities.stanford.edu/1042/_01/2009126_f01c_09289.pdf

The registered offices of Pioneer Alternative Investments listed as one of the defendants in the document above is George's Quay, Dublin 2.

It would seem that there is a significant Dublin aspect to the Madoff - Bank Austria story. As UniCredit is the parent of both Bank Austria and Pioneer, I would say that more is to be revealed over the next few days (assuming our 'free press' decide to follow Kathleen Barrington's formidable lead).

Whistleblower's website is:
http://whistleblowerirl.blogspot.com/

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Remembering also that Pioneer is one of the Anglo Bondholders listed on Guido Fawkes' list released about 5 or 6 weeks back.

[C. Flower]

Has anyone seen this?

"Madoff Trustee Seeks $19.6 Billion From Austrian Banker"

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/madoff-trustee-seeks-19-6-billion-from-austrian-banker/

The article states that:



I have just noticed that Whilstleblower's website contains some links regarding Madoff, Bank Austria, UniCredit and Pioneer Dublin. Here is an intriguing link that I got on his/her site:
http://securities.stanford.edu/1042/_01/2009126_f01c_09289.pdf

The registered offices of Pioneer Alternative Investments listed as one of the defendants in the document above is George's Quay, Dublin 2.

It would seem that there is a significant Dublin aspect to the Madoff - Bank Austria story. As UniCredit is the parent of both Bank Austria and Pioneer, I would say that more is to be revealed over the next few days (assuming our 'free press' decide to follow Kathleen Barrington's formidable lead).

Whistleblower's website is:
http://whistleblowerirl.blogspot.com/


Tragically, Mark Madoff, the son of Bernie Madoff, has been found dead today. His death is described as "an apparent suicide", which suggests that a note may have been left.

Mark Madoff was under investigation in relation to his fathers business transactions.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1211/madoffm.html

I also read that Bank Austria intends to vigorously defend itself. I am looking forward to more information on this coming out.

We are only beginning to see some glimpses of what exists, in terms of the appalling and routinely criminal character of the international finance sector, as the tide ebbs out, exposing the nasty lifeforms below the waterline.

[C. Flower]

David Malone's has posted again on his "Golem IX" blog on this.

http://golemxiv-credo.blogspot.com/


(Total Mayhem has already posted a link to this post on another thread)


Last week I wrote suggesting Unicredit might be in trouble because of debts coming to it from its Austrian subsidiary Bank Austria and its American subsidiaries Pioneer Global Asset Management and Vanderbilt Capital Advisers

Friday, Unicredit, Pioneer, Bank Austria and through them, Medici Bank, are all named as accused in the largest case to come out of the Madoff swindle.

Now this brings up a point which has been bothering me for the last couple of weeks. How is it, that I know that the Irish Financial regulator has on file certain information regarding the activities of UniCredit which would be of material interest to the Austrian financial regulator, and Austrian parliament, as well as to their Italian counterparts, and the New York lawyers led by Mr Picard, who filed the suit, and yet it seems none of them know?

Why has the Irish regulator, or the Irish Minister of Finance, not seen fit to tell his European regulatory partners highly relevant information, despite the fact that European law makes it their duty to do so? Why does the Austrian parliament not know what I do, regarding a matter which has now embroiled the owners of the largest bank in Austria?

You might argue that I can't possibly know what the Austrian parliament does and does not know. And yet silly as it is, in this case I do know. Just as I also happen to have talked to a retired executive of one of the largest, collapsed and now-nationalised, European banks; this person has detailed and disturbing knowledge pertaining to the how the bank was taken over, how it operated both in Ireland and in New York, and why it collapsed. Now, although it is a matter of public record that the Security and Exchange Commission visited Dublin while investigating the activities of the collapsed bank which were under their juristriction, this executive has never been contacted. Neither the Irish regulator, nor the SEC, bothered to contact him. Why not?

I wonder if it is time for ordinary people to start pressing via both their elected representatives and Freedom of information requests, for what is known to the Regulators to be brought in to the light of day instead of being hidden away behind the greasy shroud of Corporate confidentiality.

I am not so naive as to expect any of the information the regulators have, and have so far kept secret, will be made available, but I do think it begins to prepare the grounds for taking the regulators, in person, to court, for dereliction of duty at some time in the future. I think it is important to make it clear to the Regulators that if they have failed to serve the interest of the public and have instead chosen to protect the banks, that they should start now to fear for their personal future.

To this end I wonder if one of the last honest politicians in Ireland, Senator Norris, might take it upon himself to ask the regulator what he knows and what he has conveyed to other European regulators. For if the answer comes back, 'nothing' because there is nothing to tell, then I suggest that that regulator might become the first to answer to the public in court, after an election which might just remove those who are protecting the banks in preference to their own people and nation.

What we have now is a conspiracy of silence where every nation's regulator is keeping silent about facts known to them because they think it will protect 'their banks' from harm. Their logic is that the banks are too important to be allowed to come to any harm, even if that means putting them above the laws meant to regulate them. In this case the Irish regulators know facts about UniCredit which would be helpful to Mr Picard in his case against Unicredit and the others and possibly important to the Austrians as well.

I would be willing to bet that the Austrian and Italian regulators might be aware of facts pertaining to both Bank Medici and Anglo Irish Bank's Austrian subsidiary, which the Irish people, if not their banks, would very much like to know. Each regulator is protecting its banks. Each would very much like to know what the other knows. We, the people, would like to know what they all know. And the banks and their political friends have so far made sure that none of us know anything.

But the situation may be changing of its own accord. What happens when, as in Mr Picard's Madoff case, one country might seek to deflect blame and even culpability from an important bank in its country to the regulator and banks in another country? In this case a political party in Austria might seek to find the evidence to put the blame upon UniCredit and the Italian regulator or even the Irish regulator for failure to do his duty.

I wonder if this is a new phase of the bank fraud crisis, where the rats start to turn on each other. If so we should all do what we can to help them. There is nothing to stop us coordinating Freedom of Information requests in our various countries to find out what is known about the same banks. At the very, least it might raise the political and legal temperature surrounding the banks in question.

It seems that the Irish Government and Regulator is still failing to report breaches in banking regulations.


The whistleblower's blog here has been updated with more links in relation to Madoff-Unicredit.

http://whistleblowerirl.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=1

While Joan Burton finally broke the silence on the massive liquidity breaches reported by the Whistleblower, Lenihan's answer was simply not credible and he should be pushed again to justify his statement that a 1,900% breach, of many billions, was not systemic - and to explain why no action was taken against the bank.

[C. Flower]

A reminder of the case of Eugene McErlean, the AIB Whistleblower who reported overcharging.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/whistleblower-mcerlean-to-get-official-apology-from-regulator-2364621.html



One of best-known whistleblowers in Irish banking, Eugene McErlean (below) of AIB, is to get an official apology for his past treatment from the current Financial Regulator Matthew Elderfield, the Irish Independent understands.

Mr McErlean was AIB's former group internal auditor who warned in 2001 about a major overcharging problem at the bank. But despite warning the bank and the regulatory authorities about the problem in 2001 and 2002, he claims no action was taken.

Mr Elderfield, it is understood, contacted Mr McErlean yesterday and will apologise at an Oireachtas committee tomorrow for the way the authorities reacted.

The vindication comes after years of raising the issue of regulation at the banks and Mr Elderfield's precise wording will be watched closely.

Mr McErlean claimed that the Financial Regulator knew about overcharging in AIB in 2001/ 2002 but failed to protect consumers, despite carrying out its own investigation in 2002. He also claimed the regulator failed to inform an Oireachtas inquiry about its investigation and gave the impression it was unaware of overcharging until 2004.

Mr McErlean first raised the overcharging issue in 2001 and the Central Bank was provided with a copy of a report, with AIB itself promising to undertake a complete review of its systems.

However, Mr McErlean claims he was removed from his position in 2002 around the same time he met the Financial Regulator about the overcharging issue and other concerns.

Giving evidence last year, Mr McErlean said: "I do not know the exact reason I was removed but there is a coincidence of timing. I met the chief executive of the regulator in May 2002.

"Initially, he appeared very concerned and thought it was a very serious matter . . . In October 2002, he invited me to meet him again. However, he only wanted me to state that I had withdrawn all the allegations."

There are many similarities with the case of the whistleblower described on this thread. I would go a lot further than the whistleblowers in my view of what is wrong with the finance sector, which appears to me to be in a state of potential melt down, internationally, and to be a blundering, resource-eating dinosaur well past its proper time for extinction.

[Newsy]

The former chief of the Central Bank, john hurley, appears to be getting away lightly imv.
I came across this article about him and it throws up HUGE RED flags.......and he certainly has a way (or it is facilitated) of keeping his nose clean.

I wonder is this where the 'expert advice' came from.


The 1999, the McDowell Report recommended that the job of financial regulation be entrusted to a new, independent organisation. This was fiercely opposed by the Central Bank and the Department of Finance which successfully lobbied the then Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy to place the new organisation under the overall control of the Central Bank. It was to quickly prove a Pyrrhic victory.

The new Financial Regulator, largely staffed by former Central Bank employees, opened for business in May 2003 just as Ireland's credit-fuelled property boom was about to go into hyper-drive. In the first five and a half years of its existence, Irish bank lending almost tripled to €400bn, three-quarters of which was property-related.

Beyond issuing occasional bland warnings of the possible dangers of the over-exposure of the Irish banking system to property-based lending in official Central Bank publications, neither Hurley nor Financial Regulator Patrick Neary seemed to have a clue what to do about the rapidly inflating property bubble.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/last-of-the-breed-1903360.html

I wonder does hurley 'merit' his own thread.

From what I understand, hurley was, effectively neary's (financial regulator) boss. He appears to have the ability to remain below the radar.


John Hurley has occupied three Secretary General positions: he was appointed by the Government to his current post as Secretary General, Department of Finance, early in 2000. Prior to that he was Secretary General, Public Service Management and Development, in the Department of Finance, and Secretary General, Department of Health.

Mr Hurley is a member of the Board of the Central Bank, the Advisory Committee of the National Treasury Management Agency and the Council and Executive Committee of the Economic and Social Research Institute. He is a member of the Implementation Group of Secretaries General established by the Government to oversee the Strategic Management Initiative.

He has also been Chairman of the Top Level Appointments Committee which makes recommendations to the Government and to Ministers on appointments to Secretary General and Assistant Secretary level posts in Government Departments, and a Board member of the European Institute of Public Administration, Maastricht, the Louvain Institute for Ireland in Europe and the National Centre for Partnership. In addition he was also a member of the Executive Board of the World Health Organisation, Geneva.
http://www.finance.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=325

He certainly held a great deal of power, in 'powerful' places.

[TotalMayhem]

I would go a lot further than the whistleblowers in my view of what is wrong with the finance sector

Whistleblowers should only convey facts that they are privy to. Speculative assessment will hurt credibility.

[C. Flower]

Whistleblowers should only convey facts that they are privy to. Speculative assessment will hurt credibility.

It wasn't a criticism. :)

[SeanD6]

I noticed that WhistleblowerIRL has commented on Golem's post by saying:


"I'm only too aware that we could easily cross the line and lose everything we have" said Mario Draghi, Governor of Banca d'Italia in Friday's Financial Times (http://www.ft.com/draghi/ (http://www.ft.com/draghi/)). Would that be because Governor Draghi knows that he has a time-bomb ticking away in his own back-yard, a bomb called UniCredit?

The Financial Times stated that Draghi is "aiming for a eurozone 'unpolluted' by banks hooked on emergency liquidity". Would the governor care to tell us then why Banca d'Italia has been pumping billions of emergency funding into UniCredit since the beginning of the credit-crisis? Perhaps the answer is to be found in Golem's article
http://golemxiv-credo.blogspot.com/2010/12/dominoes-falling-from-east.html -

"In this global debt crisis we have heard several new notions: Too Big to Fail (AIG) and Too Big to Bail (Spain) and now I would like to add one more - Too Big to Mention. And to that category I would like to assign Unicredit as its founder member. Unicredit is an institution that never gets mentioned because it is SO big relative to its parent nation that their fates are one. Whatever happens to Unicredit happens to Italy. "

Today, WhistleblowerIRL introduced two quotes from this morning's Financial Times:


"One grim certainty for Italians is that with a national debt close to 120% of GDP - and, at $2,380bn, more than the debts of Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain put together..."

"The biggest lawsuit, against UniCredit and long-time Madoff associate S. Kohn, accuses them of participating in an "illegal scheme" to send money to Mr. Madoff".

http://whistleblowerirl.blogspot.com/

When you read all these statements together, you begin to suspect that Governor Draghi of Banca d'Italia might be 'aware' of a little more than he is letting on. Considering the noise that the ECB and the IMF made about our corrupt banks and the level of our national debt as a result of saving them, it becomes obvious that perhaps we might have just been the dress rehearsal for a much bigger performance at La Scala.

The even more troubling notion is that according to the article above, Governor Draghi is being spoken of as the replacement for Jean-Claude Trichet, the ECB president.

[C. Flower]

More today the FT on the Uni-Credit - Madoff case -

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/debd81d2-0492-11e0-a99c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz185vT7tTD[/URL]


[URL="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5d0b830e-0538-11e0-b31a-00144feabdc0.html"]Madoff son found dead in NY apartment (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/debd81d2-0492-11e0-a99c-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz185wZF1q4) - Dec-12


New Madoff lawsuits seek $40bn (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/05013a3e-061c-11e0-976b-00144feabdc0.html) - Dec-12


In depth: Madoff scandal (http://www.ft.com/madoff) - Nov-24


Lawsuit pressure takes toll on Madoffs (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bb4904d2-0628-11e0-976b-00144feabdc0.html) - Dec-12


Banks brace for Madoff custodian fall-out (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/faf0601a-061b-11e0-976b-00144feabdc0.html) - Dec-12


Trustee accuses Madoff ‘soulmate’ Kohn (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b7b8232a-048e-11e0-a99c-00144feabdc0.html) - Dec-10






Not only is UniCredit, a pillar of the Italian economy, with €1,000bn in assets and a presence in 22 countries, it is also one of Europe’s largest banks.
The court documents claim Pioneer in 2007 paid over €1m ($1.3m) to Bank Medici for the privilege of secret access to BLMIS. The same year, the suit alleges, UniCredit memorialised its participation in the scheme and entry into the Medici Enterprise by directing Pioneer to produce false prospectuses that concealed Primeo Fund’s investment in BLMIS.

[bokonon]

I was just glancing over an old article there and spotted another IFSC outfit associated with Madoff:


TWO IFSC-based firms with exposure to the collapsed Madoff Investments fund, including a unit of Spanish bank Santander and one belonging to Italian bank UniCredit, could share losses of over €2.5bn between them, reports suggested yesterday.


You'd have to wonder too about Santander making Madoff investments through an Irish vehicle:


Santander said its exposure came from an investment company managed by Optimal called Optimal Multiadvisors Ireland, which was authorised by the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority.

The Irish-based company ran a fund called Optimal Strategic US Equity which had used Madoff Securities to carry out its investments.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/investment-scam-could-cost-ifsc-firms-over-836425bn-1576200.html

[TotalMayhem]

Israeli-Austrian Banker Sonja Kohn: "I am a victim of Madoff!"

Sonja Kohn: "Bin ein Opfer von Madoff" (http://www.heute.at/news/politik/Sonja-Kohn-Bin-ein-Opfer-von-Madoff;art422,484964)

The poor wretched woman ...

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I think from following the development of the Madoff case in the states we are about on the legal timelimit for writs to be issued against Madoff and family which is why the US investigator has issued writs left right and centre.

If that suit alleging that Unicredit directed a subsidiary to produce false prospectuses leaving out certain information proves correct then that opens up a useful conduit for other investigations involving Unicredit as well.

Unicredit were the parent bank of Raiffeisen, another Austrian subsidiary, which along with Anglo Irish Bank Austria AG were named as the two accountholding banks involved in the recent invoicing scam involving subsidiaries of Vodafone where an Italian senator (Nicola de Girolamo, an old friend of Silvio Berlusconi's) was arrested along with 55 other suspects in a Calabrian N'drangheta (mafia) roundup. $2billion dollars was the false invoicing and lonely cash sum they were supposed to represent.

[TotalMayhem]

More about Sonja ...

Before She Became a Banking Giant, Sonja Kohn Was a ‘Domestic Engineer’ (http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/01/sonja_kohn_sends_email_from_un.html)


Sure, she lost billions of dollars in Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme and may have had to go into hiding from the Russian oligarchs whose money it was, but is not Sonja Kohn, the feisty founder of Vienna's Bank Medici, kind of a feminist hero? Quoth the Journal: "Ms. Kohn, who was raised in Vienna, spent the 1970s and 1980s between Milan and Zurich. Her official U.S. stock brokerage employment history states that during that time Ms. Kohn was a 'domestic engineer, or housewife.'"

Madoff’s ‘Woman in Austria’ Goes Into Hiding (http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/01/the_strange_story_of_sonja_koh.html)


Sonja Kohn, the feisty redheaded 60-year-old behind Austria's Bank Medici, scored around $2 billion for Bernie Madoff in Europe. Now, she's reportedly so terrified of the Russian oligarchs whose cash she lost that she's gone into hiding.

Kohn's an interesting lady. According to the Times and the FT, she was born in Vienna and lived in Switzerland and Milan. She came to New York in the eighties, where she converted to Orthodox Judaism, founded and headed Eurovaleur, a small brokerage firm, and made the acquaintance of one Bernard Madoff, whose scam she's been flogging all over Europe ever since.

Curtis J. Hoxter, a veteran New York–based communications adviser who has worked with Bank Austria and met Mrs. Kohn frequently in Manhattan said, “She has a very aggressive personality and wouldn’t take no for an answer.” He added, “She was overwhelming.”


Despite her New York attitude, Kohn clearly found her place in Austria. In fact, just this past summer, she praised regulators for having created a "common-sense environment," as she told the FT. "Here you are not guilty until you are found guilty, which is really not typical of what you find everywhere else." Such as, we guess, Russia.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I hope the Russians find her. No less than five New York charities had to close their doors because of Madoff and his ponzi scheme. I don't believe her protestations, or either of Madoff's sons, or his wife's protestations they knew nothing about it.

Go on the Russians as far as I am concerned.

[TotalMayhem]

No less than five New York charities had to close their doors because of Madoff and his ponzi scheme.

At least one of our own major, world-wide operating "charitable" organisations seems to have been "hijacked" by certain high-profile derivatives gamblers too.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I'd be wary of Irish charitable organisations ... they are unregulated. There are more than 7,000 charities in Ireland and I've seen more than one state-funded agency refer to itself as a charity on its website, a lobbying organisation on consultations and as a 'private business' when it comes to looking at their finances.

Its not only in the area of banking and derivatives where Ireland has been a 'wild west' example of governance.

[TotalMayhem]

More today the FT on the Uni-Credit - Madoff case -

Trustee accuses Madoff ‘soulmate’ Kohn - Dec-10

FT is using only an incomplete quote by Irving Picard, the trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff’s investment firm.

Picard calls her Madoff’s "criminal soul mate (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-10/madoff-trustee-sues-sonja-kohn-for-19-6-billion-treble-damages-via-rico.html)". He goes on, describing Kohn "as greedy and has a dishonest inventiveness that is equaled to Madoff's self".

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/9330/20101214191845clipboard.jpg

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Looks like a bloke in drag

[wickedfairy]

Funny, we thought that too, nothing feminine about her at all, nothing is impossible ya know. Just goes to show that money can't buy you looks though doesn't it? :):D

[TotalMayhem]

OT


Just goes to show that money can't buy you looks though doesn't it? :):D

Nope ... unless you don't mind looking like Heidi Montag's sister. :D

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/4111/20101214175735clipboard.png

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Just picked this article up via a link from a discussion on another forum.

Bankers Gone Wild In Ireland AND Germany http://www.businessinsider.com/bankers-gone-wild-in-ireland-and-germany-2010-11#ixzz18740XEAB

I've seen various fleeting comments on German banks and their true state of indebtedness and I understand that currently there is a row in Germany between some banks and the German media who are beginning to ask questions about the level of blame for the banking crisis which could be attached to 'wild western' bankers.

Looks like the secret door may be starting to swing open ...

[Béal na Bláth]

I've seen various fleeting comments on German banks and their true state of indebtedness and I understand that currently there is a row in Germany between some banks and the German media who are beginning to ask questions about the level of blame for the banking crisis which could be attached to 'wild western' bankers.

Looks like the secret door may be starting to swing open ...

More digging on Depfa uprooted this from New York Times -Published: November 1, 2008.


A Bank Goes Global

By the time Depfa financed the Wisconsin schools’ investment, it had already become an emblem of the new global economy. It was founded 86 years ago as a sleepy German lender, and for most of its history had focused on its home market.

But in 2002 a new chief executive, Gerhard Bruckermann, moved Depfa to the freewheeling financial center of Dublin to take advantage of low corporate taxes. He soon pushed the company into São Paulo, Mumbai, Warsaw, Hong Kong, Dallas, New York, Tokyo and elsewhere. Depfa became one of Europe’s most profitable banks and was famous for lavish events and large paychecks. In 2006, top executives took home the equivalent of $33 million at today’s exchange rates.

Mr. Bruckermann was a gregarious leader who joked that he hoped to make all employees into millionaires. He divided his time between a London home and a vast farm in Spain, where he grew exotic medicinal plants. And his success fueled an arrogance, former colleagues say.

Mr. Bruckermann once told a trade publication that Depfa, unlike German banks, understood how to benefit from the global economy. “With our efforts, we are like the one-eyed man who becomes king in the land of the blind,” he was quoted as saying.

Mr. Bruckermann, who left the bank earlier this year, did not respond to requests for an interview.

But as Depfa grew, other European banks began competing with the firm. So executives stretched into riskier deals — the sort that would eventually send shockwaves across Europe and the United States.

Was this where the rot set in? Isn't Dublin merely the scene of this crime?

The Reckoning - New York Times -Published: November 1, 2008. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/business/02global.html?pagewanted=all)

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Same old same old ... the boy who didn't get the girl or on the team at school decides that he is going to get even with the world. Bruckermann obviously suffers from the same disease that some of the hedgefunders have .... 'I know how to con the system therefore everybody should worship me'.

You'd be surprised how much these so-called masters of the universe resemble the nerdy kid in class. I came into contact with some of the 'quants' or those who went on to become 'quants' at hedgefunds and the similarity between the men was noticeable- math nerds who never got the girls at school is the way I think of them as people. They were invariably nerdy, spent a lot of time snorting down their nose at people who didn't understand financial modelling- a bit like a socially underdeveloped computer geek.

Its where the boys who were too scared to play football now get to think of themselves as the masters of the universe.

Most of them are socially retarded and have a mindset that worships ego above everything else. Between politicians and mathematical modellers working for banks and hedge-funds it looks like this century has begun as the Revenge of the Socially Inadequate Nerd'.

[TotalMayhem]

Mr Bruckermann moved residence from London to Switzerland (their tax laws are 'friendlier' to foreign millionaires) since. He soon grew bored of growing 'medical plants' and returned to banking. He became a director of AMK Bank, ripping off farmers in Cambodia with micro credits at usurious interest rates (30% APR and more). Ah yes, AMK Bank is owned by the Irish charity outfit Concern.

[disability student]

Anyone mind if I split off a new charities thread ? If there are no obections, I'll go ahead.

go ahead

[C. Flower]

Danske Bank reporting problems in its Irish operation.

It is moving its focus from the High Street (fear of tumbleweed?) to "high wealth and corporate" customers.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1217/breaking19.html

[bokonon]

Regarding the Whistleblower's allegations, Kathleen Barrington reports in the Business Post that the Financial Regulator appointed a third-party to review the bank for liquidity breaches. In October 2010 this investigation concluded that there was a single overnight liquidity breach but that:


In light of the most recent reports on this matter [from the story this appears to mean the raising of the issue in the Austrian parliament and the Village Magazine article] we have initiated a further review of the file to determine if any further action is appropriate in light of a risk-based assessment of the August 2007 breach.

[C. Flower]

Regarding the Whistleblower's allegations, Kathleen Barrington reports in the Business Post that the Financial Regulator appointed a third-party to review the bank for liquidity breaches. In October 2010 this investigation concluded that there was a single overnight liquidity breach but that:

Looking forward to reading that. The impression I have is that there may have been signficant breaches over a period of time. Perhaps the Regulator doesn't feel any call to look beyond the date formally reported.

[bokonon]

Looking forward to reading that. The impression I have is that there may have been signficant breaches over a period of time. Perhaps the Regulator doesn't feel any call to look beyond the date formally reported.

Exactly my thoughts - it seems they are going to confine any further inquiry to the single event that was acknowledged in the initial investigation. The third-party review completed in October 2010 "confirmed an earlier supervisory assessment that a single overnight breach had occurred".

[SeanD6]

I just found this on WhistleblowerIRL's blog:


Financial Regulator tells the Sunday Business Post about further investigation of UniCredit Ireland

Kathleen Barrington reports in today's Sunday Business Post (Sunday, 09 Jan. '11) that the Irish Financial Regulator responded to her recent queries by stating that:

"Earlier this year [2010], following queries raised by a number of sources, the Financial Regulator commissioned a third party report on liquidity issues which at our direction specifically examined allegations of persistent liquidity breaches. This was concluded in October 2010 and confirmed an earlier supervisory assessment that a single overnight breach had occurred. In light of the most recent reports on this matter, we have initiated a further internal review of the file to determine whether any further action is appropriate in light of a risk-based assessment of the August 2007 breach. If any party has specific information they wish to draw to our attention in this matter it will be treated on a confidential basis. "

Really ?!? If the Financial Regulator has been so eager in recent months to further investigate this matter in order to discover the truth, why is it that no attempt was made to contact me? Senator Norris, who raised the issue in the Seanad (Senate) last February has been in regular contact with me. Surely, had the Regulator, or the Minister of Finance, wanted to find out more details about the continuous liquidity breaches at UniCredit Ireland, they could have troubled themselves to contact me via Senator Norris? He did provide Minister Lenihan with the relevant details eleven months ago.

Did the Regulator bother asking Deputy J. Burton to get in touch with me following her question to Minister Lenihan in parliament last November?

For someone seeking the truth, the regulator seems to be suffering from an acute lack of curiosity.

Furthermore, have these recent investigations been able to answer any of the questions that I put forward in my previous posting? The questions are available here:
http://whistleblowerirl.blogspot.com/2010/11/open-letter-to-deputy-joan-burton.html

PS
I will post a link to the Business Post article as soon as it becomes available on-line. In the meantime, readers living in Ireland, please show your support for the Business Post and the Village magazine who have played an instrumental role in shedding light on the corners that the Regulator would have much-proffered to keep dark, by buying the printed versions.

http://whistleblowerirl.blogspot.com/




So now that the Austrians are also getting 'hot & bothered' about our corrupt banking system and what it implies for theirs, will we finally get some honest answers from comical Lennie, or the increasingly dubious 'regulator' ?

[DCon]

I just found this on WhistleblowerIRL's blog:




So now that the Austrians are also getting 'hot & bothered' about our corrupt banking system and what it implies for theirs, will we finally get some honest answers from comical Lennie, or the increasingly dubious 'regulator' ?

Woould be nice if teh austrians could tell us how much money the NAMA Developers have stashed away in the ex-Anglo Austria bank

[WhistleblowerIRL]

Something I would like to share from the Golem XIV blog:



Sunday, 27 March 2011


An interesting week ahead


This is going to be an interesting week.

The Irish are now openly saying they want to make the Senior bond holders take some of the bank losses. That is most definitely not in the European Financial Class's game plan. Neither France nor Germany nor the UK will like the sound of it. Because for senior bond holders read their banks, big funds and insurance companies.

This was always about bailing out other nations' banks and any restructuring of who takes what losses will simply make that clear. We will simply get to see which banks in which countries suddenly have to raise cash or get another bail out. Not only would it be a very public humiliation but it would also tell the world which banks were weakest. Given that banking is almost entirely based upon lies this would not be a good outcome for them.

Of course the obvious answer is for the big European players to use the ECB to quietly and confidentially buy up those bonds and make all Europe's tax payers pay by a more indirect and less democratic route. The problem is, while it prevents a convulsion and a nasty leak of raw truth in the short term, it doesn't undo the real damage.

The real damage is that IF Ireland sticks to their threat nearly all possible outcomes for the Big Banks become very bad. Which, providing they have the balls, puts Ireland in a very strong position.

If Ireland goes through with forcing Senior Bond holders to take their share of the losses, then it will be revealed that it was the big banks who were being protected at the expense of ordinary people all along. A whole new season of banker bashing would open.

It would also mean people in other countries who are being told day after day that they 'have no choice' but to impose even greater 'austerity' measures or that they 'must' have an IMF/EU 'rescue' package imposed upon them and accept whatever punitive terms the IMF/EU see fit, might decide they too are going to simply call everyone's bluff and say 'no'.

Even the possibility of such a contagion of rebellion would be quite sufficient to induce another credit crunch of banks refusing to lend to each other. Because who would know which banks would be affected next if Portugal or Hungary or even Spain or Italy were to start talking about their senior bond holders? That kind of uncertainty is what stopped banks lending to each other the first time.

So Ireland doesn't even have to go through with it. They need only engender a worry that they might.

Equally bad for the Big Banks and the financial class/senior bond holders, is if he ECB bails them out and buys the bonds. Because once that happens for Ireland, after all the adamant proclamations that it would never happen, then who is going to believe that Portugal or even Greece, couldn't force the same concession? Or Spain?

Then it becomes a political nightmare. Merkel is already wounded. If it looks to her domestic enemies that she is further losing control then the fragile Franco/German unity, such as it is, will collapse. The UK will not hold it together.And here are some of the comments:



Golem XIV - Thoughts said...

An audit of the debt is a brilliant thing to push for. It cuts to the bone aginst bank confidentiality and will thus be resisted to the last in those countries like Ireland and the UK whose banks have the most to hide.

All the mosre reason to push for it. And if the major paritres and their leadership will not back it then we simply need a new party and a new leadership.

I don't want the big society. I want the honest society.
28 March 2011 17:44


Pat Flannery said...

Simon Coveney, the new Irish Minister of Agriculture who made the most recent "burn the bondholders" remark, is a co-constituent of Michael Martin the leader of what is left of the ousted Fianna Fail governing party. I have no doubt that Coveney's remarks to the media on the weekend were fully approved in advance by Kenny's Cabinet.

It was good politics to have Coveney become the Fine Gael spokesperson on this because his Cork constitency is ground zero for the old kiss-ass Euro-compliance of Michael Martins Fianna Fail versus the new self assertiveness of Fine Gael.

The simple reality is that if the Europeans do not burn the bondholders the Irish will burn the Europeans. Cork is known as the "Rebel County". It took the lead in the War of Independence against the British in 1921 and will take the lead against the banksters and their corrupt politicans.
28 March 2011 18:34

Whistleblower IRL said...

@Pat Flannery

I wish I could share your enthusiasm for Fine Gael's alleged appetite to go after the "banksters" as you call them, but I'm afraid my experience thus far prevents me from doing so. The reason is simple, here is a quote from an email I received from the office of one of Fine Gael most senior deputies:

"Deputy X has been in touch with the Financial Regulator, and set out the concerns raised at the meeting [a meeting between the Deputy and myself, WbIRL] on the matters which do not appear to have been addressed. I understand that these concerns are being followed up by the Regulator who has promised Deputy X a reply in due course."

I received this e-mail in JUNE 2010. I'm sorry to report that NOTHING was received from the distinguished deputy since then. It took until November last year before the issue was raised in the Dail (Irish parliament) by Joan Burton of the Labour party. UniCredit is still laughing loudly at the charade that is Irish banking. I know, the IFSC is a small place.

Here is another interesting point in question: why can we not get the truth about the hasty sale of Anglo's Austrian operation shortly before the parent bank in Dublin was nationalised? Kathleen Barrington of the Sunday Business Post has repeatedly raised the issue; as recently as last February she approached Anglo-Irish, now headed by Alan Dukes - a dedicated Fine Gael man, for replies. Alas, silence prevails.

Here is Barrington's most recent article about Anglo Vienna:
"How FitzPatrick sent a €600m deposit book waltzing to Vienna" -
http://kathleenbarrington.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-fitzpatrick-sent-600m-deposit-book.html


@Golem

Re your comment of "I want the honest society." - my impression is that the 'burn the bonholders' game is simply a poker game in which political leaders are trying to see who can hold out the longest in not having to tell their electorate the truth. Frau Merkel certainly does not want to have to explain to every German taxpayer why they will have to continue cough up money for the bail-out of HRE/Depfa. Enda Kenny would much rather have us, the Irish public, believe that the source of all evil are those nasty continental Europeans, rather than have to instigate proceedings against Irish politicians and senior civil servants who have let criminal 'banksters' get away with it. The liquidity regulations over which I resigned in 2007 clearly state a possible penalty of FIVE years in prison for failing to adhere to liquidity requirements. The entire Irish banking system almost collapsed in Sept 2008 as it had run completely dry of liquidity. Who is to blame? No one. Who is paying for it? Everyone.

Ulster Bank employees are running around Ireland (North and Republic) telling all about their fantastic year-end results for 2010; they all seem to happily ignore the fact that had it not been for the UK tax-payer bailing them out, none of them would have jobs. RBS is Ulster Banks' parent bank...

Merkel and Kenny and their respective domestic banks are just an example for what has happened all over Europe. There are some clues to solving the mystery - notice how the the bailout of HRE/Depfa makes perfect sense through the eyes of Deutsche Bank shareholders, or have a look at the mock arrest of Anglo-Irish bank's ex CEO and the subsequent tapes that appeared in the public domain not too long after.

Regards,
WhistleblowerIRL
UniCredit Ireland's EX Risk-Manager

PS
Links to all relevant official debates and regulation documents can be found on my blog.
28 March 2011 20:01

Golem XIV - Thoughts said...

Hello WhistleblowerIRL,

Good to hear from you. I agree that leaders are seeing if who amongst them can manage not to tell their citizens anything by forcing other countries to be their fall guy. Perhaps I am too naive to hope that some country can start a rebellion that brings the entire game down.

And yes the HRE/Depfa nightmare does make more sense when seen from Deutsche's position. Germany was and is protecting its own TBTF banks and then trying to blame Ireland to cover the truth.
28 March 2011 23:34golemxiv-credo.blogspot.com/2011/03/intersting-week-ahead (http://golemxiv-credo.blogspot.com/2011/03/intersting-week-ahead.html?showComment=1301338877662#c249108351158 9693588)


On a somewhat different note, but no unrelated, I strongly recommend reading Golem's piece about the notion of 'Regulation'. The pertinent examples used are the themes of Atomic Energy and Finance.
http://golemxiv-credo.blogspot.com/2011/03/who-do-regulators-work-for.html

[C. Flower]

Thanks for posting this, Whistleblower. I think this is really getting to the heart of it although my view is that the entire global financial system is in crisis by its very nature, and it is not really a question of Ireland vs Germany, apart from in the way that the politicians parse it.


@Golem

Re your comment of "I want the honest society." - my impression is that the 'burn the bonholders' game is simply a poker game in which political leaders are trying to see who can hold out the longest in not having to tell their electorate the truth. Frau Merkel certainly does not want to have to explain to every German taxpayer why they will have to continue cough up money for the bail-out of HRE/Depfa. Enda Kenny would much rather have us, the Irish public, believe that the source of all evil are those nasty continental Europeans, rather than have to instigate proceedings against Irish politicians and senior civil servants who have let criminal 'banksters' get away with it. The liquidity regulations over which I resigned in 2007 clearly state a possible penalty of FIVE years in prison for failing to adhere to liquidity requirements. The entire Irish banking system almost collapsed in Sept 2008 as it had run completely dry of liquidity. Who is to blame? No one. Who is paying for it? Everyone.

Ulster Bank employees are running around Ireland (North and Republic) telling all about their fantastic year-end results for 2010; they all seem to happily ignore the fact that had it not been for the UK tax-payer bailing them out, none of them would have jobs. RBS is Ulster Banks' parent bank...

Merkel and Kenny and their respective domestic banks are just an example for what has happened all over Europe. There are some clues to solving the mystery - notice how the the bailout of HRE/Depfa makes perfect sense through the eyes of Deutsche Bank shareholders, or have a look at the mock arrest of Anglo-Irish bank's ex CEO and the subsequent tapes that appeared in the public domain not too long after.

Regards,
WhistleblowerIRL
UniCredit Ireland's EX Risk-Manager

PS
Links to all relevant official debates and regulation documents can be found on my blog.
28 March 2011 20:01
Golem XIV - Thoughts said...

Hello WhistleblowerIRL,

Good to hear from you. I agree that leaders are seeing if who amongst them can manage not to tell their citizens anything by forcing other countries to be their fall guy. Perhaps I am too naive to hope that some country can start a rebellion that brings the entire game down.

And yes the HRE/Depfa nightmare does make more sense when seen from Deutsche's position. Germany was and is protecting its own TBTF banks and then trying to blame Ireland to cover the truth.
28 March 2011 23:34golemxiv-credo.blogspot.com/2011/03/intersting-week-ahead (http://golemxiv-credo.blogspot.com/2011/03/intersting-week-ahead.html?showComment=1301338877662#c249108351158 9693588)
[/QUOTE]

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Oh boy oh boy ... I love hearing from WhistleblowerIRL and Golem and I think I see something any Irishman or Irishwoman simply cannot resist from reading my history and my sense of the Irish character.

The above exchange lifts my heart in a way because when you are deep in the brown stuff and surrounded by 'enemies' sometimes the most glorious thing to do is charge.

We've been humiliated as a sovereign nation in recent years through the acts of corrupt Irish people and foreign chancers and brought a bit low and everybody is wondering now about the Irish and horrible words like 'supine' and 'docile' have been used against us in some quarters.

I agree that Kenny and co have so far managed to make Brussels and various boardrooms quite nervous with talk of burning debtholders and thats a good way to go as a negotiating stance to give as strong a hand as possible at the table for Irish interests in this fight.

The way it looks to me right now is that we have very little left to lose and I don't know about anyone else but I'd rather go down as a madbastard than a coward.

If Kenny and co can stick to the line and even ramp it up I'd happily go like the clappers in support of the kamikaze run.

Bollocks to it. And bollocks to being cowed as well. I'll find a way to bite an arse or two in support if the rest of us are up for taking on another Empire. And laugh my head off as we go.

I'm tired of worrying. Have we horses outside?

[C. Flower]

Now that Fine Gael are in Government - mainly as a result of the Bank Guarantee carte blanche to bankers - is there anything to stop them carrying out a proper investigation into liquidity breaches and acting on it?

At this stage I'm very confused about the full extent of what is and is not being investigated, but surely Fine Gael should be reinforcing the feeble gestures so far with a belt and braces approach ?

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Its an open goal on FF and their entire crew of backers as well as far as I can see. I suppose now we'll find out what the style of cooperation is between the political class party hacks.

I'd be very suspicious if there isn't a meltdown for FF out of current investigations and it'll help me make up my mind about politics in Ireland and how far the connections go across parties.

Its beat them or join them time for FG and Labour and if they don't do it to the full extent the rest of the country wants to see then they'll very quickly solidify who exactly the internal enemies are for most Irish people.

[Dr. FIVE]

Anyone have a crack at this (http://biflatie.nl/artikelen/58-crisis/11909-banken-in-ierland-krijgen-nieuwe-bailout) ?

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I've no dutch besides greetings and beer orders but I ran the article through some software translators and have the gist of it. I'll summarise main points as best I can make out (warning- I may have to take a chance on converting the text to smoother English than the clunky result so risk missing a subtlety);

'Banks in Ireland in new bailout'

Further issues with Irish banks ...In late November Ireland received 85 billion euros from the emergency fund of the EU and the IMF. These billions were mainly used to help the banks. Ireland in the last two years has seen more than 46 billion euros of capital pumped into banks pumped and several banks have been nationalized.

The new stress test that was held by Irish banks will likely show another big bailout will be needed to keep banks afloat. Between 18 and 25 billion euros in fresh capital may have to be injected into the banks. It is anticipated that the The European Central Bank will provide the new liquidity.

The new Irish government has requested funding to the tune of 60 billion euros to be made available.

[?]These emergency measures (ie new bailout), the financing of the Irish government to replace the banks[?]. It actually shows that the Irish government itself does not want to invest in these banks. This amount of 60 billion euro is also above the sum of 117 billion euros the ECB has already borrowed money for other operations.

The situation in the financial sector in Ireland is still problematic. Politicians and central bankers anticipated the pressure would be relieved with billions already injected, but nothing is further from the truth. There are few investors willing to see merit in holding bank shares. Confidence in the Irish financial system further eroded. Can this sector ever be cured?

That which goes with the banking sector in Ireland is also reflected in the prices of bank shares. Bank of Ireland shares rose after the first bailout in November 2010 by over 100% in one month. Three months later, the share price was less than a pint in the pub. The current value is € 1.85. The prices of other Irish bank shares such as Allied Irish Banks and Irisch Life & Permanent are under similar pressure.'

[Sidewinder]

Good to see Golem is still active, guy's a legend.

I'm with the Cap'n on this one.

We've nothing to lose, and going down swinging at least preserves some shred of self-respect after the last 15 years. And there's a small chance that forcing the issue will bring down the whole rotten cabal and ordinary people all across Europe and the world will, in time, come to see the ordinary Irish people as the real heroes of the piece. FF will always be villains - but we can deal with that shame if we take steps now to redeem ourselves as a people.

We know the system is utterly corrupt. We know it's not our debt as ordinary people. We know the politicians (FF and the Euro pols anyway, jury still out on FG/Lab) are a bunch of lying sell-outs working for agendas opposed to the interests of ordinary working people.

So saddle up and chaaaaarge!

[Dr. FIVE]

The prices of other Irish bank shares such as Allied Irish Banks and Irisch Life & Permanent are under similar pressure.'

We will own ILP by the end of the week.

[yoganmahew]

We will own ILP by the end of the week.

Rich, we're all rich, I tell you.

Where's me sunglasses, aparently you need them for the bored meetings.

[C. Flower]

Good to see Golem is still active, guy's a legend.

I'm with the Cap'n on this one.

We've nothing to lose, and going down swinging at least preserves some shred of self-respect after the last 15 years. And there's a small chance that forcing the issue will bring down the whole rotten cabal and ordinary people all across Europe and the world will, in time, come to see the ordinary Irish people as the real heroes of the piece. FF will always be villains - but we can deal with that shame if we take steps now to redeem ourselves as a people.

We know the system is utterly corrupt. We know it's not our debt as ordinary people. We know the politicians (FF and the Euro pols anyway, jury still out on FG/Lab) are a bunch of lying sell-outs working for agendas opposed to the interests of ordinary working people.

So saddle up and chaaaaarge!

I'm right there with you although not on horseback.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Good to see Golem is still active, guy's a legend.

I'm with the Cap'n on this one.

We've nothing to lose, and going down swinging at least preserves some shred of self-respect after the last 15 years. And there's a small chance that forcing the issue will bring down the whole rotten cabal and ordinary people all across Europe and the world will, in time, come to see the ordinary Irish people as the real heroes of the piece. FF will always be villains - but we can deal with that shame if we take steps now to redeem ourselves as a people.

We know the system is utterly corrupt. We know it's not our debt as ordinary people. We know the politicians (FF and the Euro pols anyway, jury still out on FG/Lab) are a bunch of lying sell-outs working for agendas opposed to the interests of ordinary working people.

So saddle up and chaaaaarge!

Also means we can turn our thoughts on how to bite Irish bank boardrooms, German and Italian banks and their freaky friends on the backside in imaginative new ways.

I'd like that and I think you would too. Me first though for risks as I talk enough about it.

Prospect of a good Irish end-run has cheered me up somewhat. I never thought I'd see the day when Ireland could take on and destroy Europe but it appears we can.

To Secret Atheist Island and my swingy chair with fluffy white cat for an evil chuckle or two. To North Tipperary with the lot of 'em.

[DCon]

Anyone surprised that FG policy = FF policy should read this


Whistleblower IRL said...
@Pat Flannery
I wish I could share your enthusiasm for Fine Gael's alleged appetite to go after the "banksters" as you call them, but I'm afraid my experience thus far prevents me from doing so. The reason is simple, here is a quote from an email I received from the office of one of Fine Gael most senior deputies:
"Deputy X has been in touch with the Financial Regulator, and set out the concerns raised at the meeting [a meeting between the Deputy and myself, WbIRL] on the matters which do not appear to have been addressed. I understand that these concerns are being followed up by the Regulator who has promised Deputy X a reply in due course."
I received this e-mail in JUNE 2010. I'm sorry to report that NOTHING was received from the distinguished deputy since then. It took until November last year before the issue was raised in the Dail (Irish parliament) by Joan Burton of the Labour party. UniCredit is still laughing loudly at the charade that is Irish banking. I know, the IFSC is a small place.
Here is another interesting point in question: why can we not get the truth about the hasty sale of Anglo's Austrian operation shortly before the parent bank in Dublin was nationalised? Kathleen Barrington of the Sunday Business Post has repeatedly raised the issue; as recently as last February she approached Anglo-Irish, now headed by Alan Dukes - a dedicated Fine Gael man, for replies. Alas, silence prevails.

http://whistleblowerirl.blogspot.com/

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Fine Gael and Labour's job appears to be to provide a new blanket over the obvious corruption in the nexus between banks and politicians in Ireland.

I see no information being released concerning the events of the guarantee or subseqent lies emanating from senior Irish politicians over the past few years in Dublin.

With each passing day it seems to me that FG and Labour have bought into the scheme of continuing to treat the population of the country like taxcattle and it seems FG/Labour have no real intention of disturbing that ongoing status quo.

Kenny's 'tough stance' with the Germans and French looks awfully like amateur dramatics to me.

Anyone with access to records at the highest level could spill the beans on the massive fraud perpetrated by FF in the last few years. The fact that they are just pretending to manage a situation without blowing the lid off the criminal activity of the previous government looks to me like 'here's our ministerial cars lets not rock any boats'.

My estimate is that FG/Labour will just try to PR their way through the status quo for three years and ministerial pensions while keeping if possible the idea in the electorate's minds that change may be possible next week or next month or early next term when they are back from hols.

I'll be able to say for sure by the time the Dail rises for summer. It is all very well chucking a few likely looking bones into the legislative schedule but then anyone in politics knows that such lists are provided for the convenience of lobbyists rather than the electorate.

Why haven't FG lifted the lid on Anglo and the blatant corruption between that boardroom and the last government? Answer: Because they don't want the next government doing that to them.

[ruralista]

Strangely, I was just thinking about this thread this morning as i opened PW.org, There has been something playing on my mind this past couple of months resulting from meetings with the Bank re addressing and dealing with the " fall out " of Business closure.
I dismissed a lot of my thought process as being a bit " paranoid " and the result of stress but sifting through the conversations with Bank in retrospect, There seems to be a very clear process at play for the struggling client.
It is fairly easy to access information such as the very informative general Banking strategies displayed here, However, I am now of the mind set that the depth of what lies ahead can only come to light via the individual pooling of information through real experience from dealing with the experiences of individuals and how their attempts to cope with the fall out are being met with by the Banks.
There is such a myriad of different and conflicting " Stories " out there that it is adding to the confusion.
Lest any of you think I have gone over to the " Conspiracy Theories " Let me reassure you, My dealings with the Bank and my reasonable suggestions of negotiations have met with a blank wall, The conversations were peppered with responses that contained repeatedly the word " Confidential " as in when I requested answers to specific questions I was met with " Thats confidential and the in house staff of your branch would have no access to what that area of the Bank would likely carry out " etc etc.
I may not be making a lot of sense here and probably need assistance to flesh it out but what is obvious to me is that the Bank has zero interest in even attempting to address the most basic negotiating so that people can address their debt in a responsible manner.
The quicker they can off load the debt, The quicker they will rid the damn debtors who will stall the process for them.
My apologies in advance if i'm not making total sense, Cinfounded to some degree.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

ruralista I'd say what you are seeing on the ground floor is a reflection of the 'pissoff we are untouchable, systemic and too big to fail' policy in the boardroom.

They own the legislators and regulators so they can stick two fingers up at the average customer now.

Put it to you this way- Bank of Ireland lied to the Dept of Finance re the bonuses they were paying out while existing on life support from the taxpayers. Alll of those people who sanctioned the lying to the government are still sitting in the boardroom.

No consequences. At all.

One last point. They'll continue to behave like that until the consequences come back to bite them in their own homes. Because they know the Irish public are supine and won't challenge them and the politicians are in their pockets.

[ruralista]

Yes, That is the case, I am in all probability looking at this from the " Deep psyche " of the Irish mentality, That being we will take the " Beating " as long as we can hide our " Shame ", That self perpetrated Psyche is what has held back our growth and development in all areas as a Society.

I, as an individual am powerless to prevent the march of a new Banking process into my life, However, I have some ( idealistic ? ) vain hope that the pooling of information of individuals struggle with repaying Bank debt just might generate even a vague sense of control to the people who feel so isolated and hopeless at the moment, They feel that way because the Banks are in no uncertain terms delivering that message to each individual across the desk in what they believe is their " Safe Environment ".

Even when I voiced the facts to the Bank that the steps they were enforcing " Made no fiscal sense ", The response i got was " I know " .
Its akin really to a Military Operation where the Banks are outflanking the customers with a subtle, divisive and manipulative process designed to play on fear and demoralisation, Based on past process of negotiations whereby the Customer met with the Bank and hammered out ways and means to address issues.
By removing this process it has send a psycological message deep into the most fearful areas of customers that all they knew prior to the Crisis has been removed and the result is that the Banks have become the Omnipotent rulers of their future.
My point in the sharing and pooling of real and active information is to clarify the Banks endgame in a personal way, Once the fear has been deleted a new process for the individual can emerge.
It might all sound a bit too Philosophical and not fundamental enough but I believe that getting rid of the debris of fear and hopelessness can bring to light the potential that is presently grounded.

[Dr. FIVE]

Why haven't FG lifted the lid on Anglo and the blatant corruption between that boardroom and the last government? Answer: Because they don't want the next government doing that to them.

This is something I have thought about a lot. It didn't take Noonan long to lift the lid of phone-tapping the last time out.
Even though FG and their chums where where more or less at the same cráic the last few years, there is so much muck lying around on FF I don't think we would notice.


Could it be that anything FF did, involves all FG "friends" too?

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

FF and FG go to the same 'good' schools (depending on one's viewpoint) and of course in Parliaments across western Europe the idea that these people are ideologically divided is a nonsense.

All you have to do is go a social event at the Dail or House of Commons/Lords or Brussels and you'll see them all happily intermingling. I often think the Dail and Senate are just an extension of the debating clubs at school for the sons and daughters of the 'entitled'.

Thats why there are so many fake 'barristers' in Irish politics who would never see the inside of a courtroom or a brief. Their 'BL' letters are derived from an extension onto an MA course ... two nights a week debating at Kings Inn and if you are an approved person (cough) then suddenly you are a barrister.

Not to be confused with real barristers who were articled and worked via chambers and so on.

[DCon]

This is something I have thought about a lot. It didn't take Noonan long to lift the lid of phone-tapping the last time out.
Even though FG and their chums where where more or less at the same cráic the last few years, there is so much muck lying around on FF I don't we would notice.


Could it be that anything FF did, involves all FG "friends" too?

Maybe this is why Leninhan hired Dukes. Spilling the beans on Anglo would raise serious questions about Dukes.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

That was a dodgy one alright considering Dukes was appointed as 'public interest director' and when you consider he worked for Peter Sutherland when he was EU Commissioner and co-authored a booklet singing the praises of the EU institutions with him.

Alan Dukes isn't the first name I would have considered.

[jpc]

You have to wonder why the top layers of management and the boards of directors are still left enter the buildings?
What about those encrypted files in Anglo?
The deafening silence makes you wonder what has happened to the noble aspiration s of FG and Lab.

[morticia]

The noble aspirations of FG/Lab were to gain control of the Dail

mission accomplished in their view, I'd imagine.

[barrym]

I see no information being released concerning the events of the guarantee or subseqent lies....

Quite, given the amount of guff spoken during the election specifically on this. What are the reasons? there is no record? there is no truth in the various specualtions? there is more data about the banks than we can afford to admit? Or, they are wating for an opportunity?

In addition to all the stuff on this thread about 'business as usual' from the new gov., I add that they don't have a clue what to do, and in that they are acting exactly as one would expect from a bunch of Irish pols.

One of my new local TDs has the following question down -

"To ask the Minister for Health and Children if funding will be provided to provide residential care in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter."

move on, nothing new to see here.....

B

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I'm following an investigation into the banking sector and certain dealings they've had which involves cross-border transactions and possible money laundering by the State Prosecutor's Office in Hamburg and they are handling massive amounts of data and files.

Should be interesting to compare and contrast with the Irish authorities' attempts at that particular fence and the timeline involved.

If the Irish national juidiciary, legislature and DPP cannot compare with a regional state prosecutor's office in Germany then I think questions should be asked and serious reform will be required.

I was reading one of those Stieg Larsson novels on the commuter trip to work and back and something rather depressing flashed past in the background to the novel which made me grimace about Ireland.

'Swedish democracy is based on a single premise: The Right to Free Speech (R.F.S). This guarantees the inalienable right to say aloud, think and believe anything whatsoever. This right embraces all Swedish citizens from the crazy neo-Nazi living in the woods to the rock-throwing anarchist- and everyone in between.

Every other basic right, such as the Formation of Government and the Right to Freedom of Organisation, are simply practical extensions of the Right to Free Speech. On this law democracy stands or falls.

All democracy has its limits, and the limits to the R.F.S are set by the Freedom of the Press regulation (F.P.). This defines four restrictions on democracy. It is forbidden to publish child pornography and then depiction of certain violent sexual acts, regardless of how artistic the originator believes the depiction to be. Its is forbidden to incite or exhort someone to crime. It is forbidden to defame or slander another person. It is forbidden to engage in the persecution of another ethnic group.'

Compare that to the stupid rockmonkey understanding of people like Dermot Ahern the erstwhile former Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

This is why I say the things I do about the remedial understanding of democracy in Ireland. Ireland is not now nor has it ever been either a democracy or a Republic except in halfwitted claims by people who understand neither.

I am at the point where I think trying to contribute to the continuation of that legal and ethical abortion derived from a risible scrap of nonsense referred to as the 'Constitution' in Ireland is no longer supportable.

I'd prefer to see the current laughable and corrupt institutions of the state in Ireland destroyed rather than tinkered with by people who simply do not understand democracy but want it on an advertising hoarding so they can puff their little chests up and pretend they are at the heart of a Europe which calls upon the principles of ancient Athens or ancient Rome in a faint public relations whisper.

There was more democracy in those two cities 2,000 years ago than there is in Ireland now. It is still a backward, remedial, corrupt island at the westernmost fringes of Europe and it shows.

Nothing now but radical surgery will save that particular theoretical abortion.

[Dr. FIVE]

Micheal D's final speech (http://youtu.be/OJJ5q1_5jX8) (to an empty chamber) would chime with a lot of that captain.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Thank you FIVE for that link. I have just now had the opportunity to pay proper attention to it.

I think it is a magnificent address to the Dail and one of such quality that I doubted I would ever hear something like it in that house.

Dignified instead where I am angry but you are correct in pointing out that by accident I am saying the same things he said but with more force than Higgins' eloquence.

To see that rat Carey and the likes of him sitting there opposite Higgins as he gave that address is peculiarly fitting in a way.

[boozwatch]

Micheal D's final speech (http://youtu.be/OJJ5q1_5jX8) (to an empty chamber) would chime with a lot of that captain.

Great speech - thanks for the link. Inspiring yes, but shameful that one man on the edge of retirement should have to lecture elected representatives on the purpose of democracy, and the meaning of a republic.

Trivial and off topic I know, but our local newly elected first-time TD has just bought himself a huge ****-off 011 car - a quick transformation from man of the people to member of the new aristocracy, and a reminder that our reps are obviously paid far too much. - Animal Farm stuff

[barrym]

Not trivial at all,name him/her. Ask him/her when they are taking a wage cut. I did, still waiting for an answer.
B

[WhistleblowerIRL]

Kathleen Barrington in yesterday's Business Post:




Accounting procedures flatter UniCredit Ireland’s performance

17 April 2011, By Kathleen Barrington

If I asked how much your house was worth, you probably couldn’t tell me for sure.

You might guess it is worth half what it was worth at the peak of the boom.

Or you might fear it is worth even less, as there is a house on the road quoting half the peak price and it still hasn’t found a buyer.

There is no reliable indicator of what the market price of houses currently is.

The Permanent/ TSB ESRI index is based on too small a sample, while data protection laws prevent estate agents from disclosing transaction prices even if they were minded to do so, although Friday’s distressed sale auction by Allsops has partially helped fill the information gap.

Things aren’t much different in the world of high finance. Many bankers don’t really have a clue what once-valuable assets are now worth, as the assets rarely trade (and when they do, the prices they fetch aren’t necessarily disclosed on a stock exchange).

Bankers may also fear trading those assets as the price they would achieve might be so low as to do damage to their balance sheets and force them to raise new capital.

This is the case with asset backed securities, particularly those securities backed by mortgages of doubtful quality. It is also true of sovereign bonds issued by countries with big deficits as well as corporate bonds issued by institutions that are under stress.

Many European financial institutions still carry these troubled assets on their books.

That is why, three and a half years into the credit crunch, many banks are still struggling with the legacy of the collapse in market confidence which began in August 2007.

Take, for example, the accounts of UniCredit Bank Ireland plc, a subsidiary of Italy’s largest bank, UniCredit.

UniCredit’s Irish operations are pretty substantial with total assets of €23.7 billion at the end of 2010.

Many of those assets include the complex financial instruments that have proven difficult to value ever since the credit crunch hit.

UniCredit Bank Ireland has, by its own admission, endured a difficult period for liquidity, and was among the banks that availed of emergency amendments to accounting rules introduced in October 2008 at the height of the financial crisis.

The Irish subsidiary, which is based at the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Dublin, reclassified about €3 billion of assets in 2008.This meant that those assets did not have to be valued at market prices which were then in turmoil.

UniCredit Ireland continued to avail of this accounting treatment in subsequent reporting periods.

The bank did it again in 2009 and then also in the 2010 accounts, which were filed in the Companies Office in recent weeks.

Writing in the annual report, chairman Ronan Molony said the significant turmoil experienced in 2008 and 2009 continued in 2010, culminating in Ireland accepting the bailout in November.

This had a negative affect on UniCredit Bank Ireland’s funding costs.

However, Molony reckoned the bank had produced a ‘‘satisfactory’’ result for the year, taking into account the ‘‘considerable market headwinds, recording a net profit after tax of €89 million compared with a net profit after tax of €131 million the previous year.”

But the notes to the accounts reveal that the continued use of the emergency accounting treatment flattered the company’s reported profit figure by €63 million in 2010.

The reclassification is permissible under the emergency accounting rules which were introduced at the height of the crisis. In the case of UniCredit Bank Ireland, the reclassified assets are now described as ‘‘loans and receivables’’, whereas previously they were described as ‘‘held for trading’’.

If they were still described as ‘‘held for trading’’ they would have to be written down to their current market value, which would dent the reported profitability of the Irish subsidiary.

Elsewhere, the accounts show that there was a €344 million reduction in the value of certain assets which were available for sale during2 010.However, this reduction has been written off against shareholders’ equity rather than to the profit and loss account, a move which accountants say is entirely legitimate, but which also flatters headline performance.

It is true that UniCredit’s performance at group level continues to appear stellar when compared with the performance of our own Irish banks.

In March, UniCredit reported fourth quarter net income of €321 million, down from €371 million a year earlier after provisions more than doubled to €472 million.

The bank generated full year profit of €1.3 billion, down 22 per cent from a year earlier.

But there are concerns that the bank’s expansion into eastern Europe, and elsewhere, may lead to greater loan losses in future, which would require the bank to raise new capital. This has been reflected in a fall in UniCredit’s share price over the last few years.

The shares closed at €1.71 last week, compared with €5.06 in August 2007 when the credit crunch began.

UniCredit has been under particular pressure ever since the banking foundation Cari Verona, one of its largest shareholders, declined to take part in a rights issue at the height of the credit crunch in 2008.

UniCredit then controversially accepted funding from the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s Libyan Investment Authority.

The decision to accept those funds contributed to the loss of shareholder confidence in UniCredit chief executive Alessandro Profumo, who was ousted last year. It has proven even more embarrassing now that Gaddafi’s own people are in open revolt against his rule.

There have been repeated suggestions that UniCredit may be forced to raise new capital either through asset disposals or fundraising.

Among the assets that might be disposed of is Pioneer Investments, its IFSC-based fund management division.

It just goes to show that in this global financial crisis, a road that leads to Rome may well also lead back home.

http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/wholestory.aspx-qqqt=THE-INSIDER-qqqs=themarket-qqqsectionid=3-qqqc=3.7.0.0-qqqn=1-qqqx=1.asp

www.kathleenbarrington.blogspot.com (http://www.kathleenbarrington.blogspot.com)

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Given the events reported earlier today where a solicitor from Blanchardstown announced to a judge that from this day forward he would cease to practise as a solicitor and claimed his decision was a reaction to corruption around the court in that area and given other examples of whistleblowers being afforded little protection under Irish law I thought I would take a look at the area. Of course Whistleblower on this thread will be interested in this Transparency Ireland report on the legal status and protections if any offered to those who need to blow a whistle and hard.

It appears that Financial Services appears to be one of those areas where the law is peculiarly silent in Ireland;

'The most obvious gaps in coverage of whistleblower provisions relate to the reporting of offences under company law and in the provision of financial services. A cursory reading of news headlines from the past year provide plentiful evidence of unethical and perhaps even criminal practices in some Irish enterprises, yet both the business community and government remain actively opposed to protecting those who report such wrongdoing'

and the report here goes on to make certain recommendations;

'1. Ireland should adopt a generic whistleblower protection law covering whistleblowers in the public, private and non-profit sectors. The success of the generic UK Public Interest Disclosure Act runs to a mere nine pages and applies to the entire private and public sectors in the United Kingdom. It is an example of a simple and very effective law adopted by the jurisdiction most resembling Ireland’s. It makes little sense to continue with a “sectoral” approach that covers a limited number of professions and sectors.
2. In the absence of the early adoption of a generic provision, whistleblower protection provisions should be extended, as an intermediate measure, to company law and financial services as a matter of urgency.
3. Amendments should also be made to Health Act whistleblower provisions that remove the “ought to know” clause.
4. Whether a generic or sectoral whistleblower approach is adopted, the level of awards to whistleblowers that have been subject to reprisal should be of an amount that is “just and equitable in the circumstances”. This is already the case under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and Employment Permits Act 2006.'

The report goes on to outline a number of case histories involving Whistleblowers in Ireland;http://www.transparency.ie/Files/2010_Alternative_to_Silence_Ireland_v1.pdf

[C. Flower]

Kathleen Barrington in yesterday's Business Post:

I wonder how closely the Regulator is looking at what is going on ?

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

According to WhistleblowerIRL's blog http://whistleblowerirl.blogspot.com/
In June of last year due to contact between Whistleblower and senior Fine Gael politicians the Financial Regulator had given an undertaking to Michael Noonan I think that they would be contacting WhistleblowerIrl for further details on the massive liquidity breaches at Unicredit Ireland. Its a year ago now so if Whistleblower is checking this forum perhaps he could confirm whether there has been any follow-up?

[ang]

As stated on todays blog by whistleblower FG have denied any contact with whistleblower last year and he is calling for them to tell the truth.


Further to my posting below from last Thursday, I would like to share some more correspondence with you. This might serve to refresh your memory and that of your senior colleagues. It is rather surprising that you had chosen to completely deny that I had had any dealings with Fine Gael.

http://whistleblowerirl.blogspot.com/

[C. Flower]

As stated on todays blog by whistleblower FG have denied any contact with whistleblower last year and he is calling for them to tell the truth.

http://whistleblowerirl.blogspot.com/

Given that the liquidity breaches reported by the Whistleblower at UniCredit were the canary in the coalmine for the liquity and solvency crisis of the banking system, I would have thought that the Government would want to set things straight.

No wonder that no-one has any confidence in our banks and our bank bonds are rated as junk.

[PaddyJoe]

A Canadian IFSC bank gest fined for liquidity breaches this week. Curious that the CB is only now dealing with breaches that took place in 2008.

Scotiabank has been fined €600,000 by the Central Bank for failing to provide accurate information on its liquidity.
A lack of adequate controls and checks to verify the liquidity return process were among five breaches identified by the Central Bank.
The Central Bank also noted that Scotiabank failed to provide accurate information in liquidity reporting returns from the 28th September 2007 to 27th June 2008 and from the 4th December 2009 to 5th March 2010, and therefore did not comply with liquidity ratios in 14 returns.

Allowable discounted liquid assets were overstated by US$300 million, the calculation of cash flows did not include all interest inflows and outflows for Interest Rate Swaps on the basis of contractual terms, and the calculation of cash flows did not include all cash inflows and outflows relating to certain other derivative and related transactions.http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0608/breaking35.html

[DCon]

Great speech - thanks for the link. Inspiring yes, but shameful that one man on the edge of retirement should have to lecture elected representatives on the purpose of democracy, and the meaning of a republic.

Trivial and off topic I know, but our local newly elected first-time TD has just bought himself a huge ****-off 011 car - a quick transformation from man of the people to member of the new aristocracy, and a reminder that our reps are obviously paid far too much. - Animal Farm stuff

Do they get a new car allowance I wonder?

[C. Flower]

There have been a couple of liquidity breach penalties reported recently - no chance to log them in this thread, so if anyone else has links to them, please post them here.

Today's Sunday Business Post carries a report by Joh Ihle, which says that several employees of IFSC banks have come forward to report to the Central Bank possible undisclosed breaches of liquidity for their institutions.

"Senior officials at the Central Bank, which issued an invitation via the Sunday Business Post last January for whistleblowers to come forward in confidence, have met with the employees and taken statements from them.

No investigations are underway at this stage, but it is understood regulators are still assessing the information.

.... We have not closed our books on liquidity ratios at IFSC banks, said Peter Oakes, the Central Bank's director of enforcement."

The request for information was prompted by "our" WhistleblowerIrl's evidence of persistent violations at Unicredit in 2007.

WhistleblowerIrl, we understand, has paid a recent visit to the Central Bank, but the Bank was not readily able to say what it meant by confidential, and was not able to grant immunity - leaving whistleblowers with the fear that, if they were as employees involved in liquidity breaches, they might themselves be pursued.

From a number of articles I've read recently, I'm becoming convinced that the breaches were not the exception and that the whole banking system is full of big black debt holes that will in due course become visible, as was the case with the Anglo Irish Bank, DEPFA and others.

Edit - Scotia Bank, recently fined €600,000 for liquidity breaches.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0608/central-business.html

[WhistleblowerIRL]

Thank you C. for keeping the thread going on my story.

Here is my latest posting from this evening:





A word of advice to those who have followed in my footsteps:


One might easily be encouraged by this article in yesterday's Business Post:





IFSC whistleblowers reporting on firms -
Sunday Business Post, 12 June 2011, By Jon Ihle

Several employees of IFSC banks have come forward to report to the Central Bank possible undisclosed breaches of liquidity requirements at their institutions, The Sunday Business Post has learned.

Senior officials at the Central Bank, which issued an invitation Via The Sunday Business Post last January for whistleblowers to come forward in confidence, have met with the employees and taken statements from them. No investigations are underway at this stage, but it is understood regulators are still assessing the information.

The news comes just days after the Financial Regulator fined Scotia Bank Ireland, an IFSC-based bank, €600,000 for allowing its funding to fall below minimum levels without permission, and for failing to provide accurate information in its regulatory returns.

‘‘We have not closed our books on liquidity ratios at IFSC banks," said Peter Oakes, the Central Bank’s director of enforcement. Scotia Bank’s breaches were inadvertent, and the bank brought the matter to the Central Bank’s attention voluntarily, although its initial failure to comply with the requirement meant that the bank allowed its funding ratios to fall below the minimum permitted level.

It is understood that the bank faced a fine of as much as €1 million, but that its high levels of cooperation in reaching a settlement agreement with the regulator were taken into account.

The request for information on liquidity breaches came after a whistleblower alleged persistent violations at Unicredit Ireland in 2007.

The Central Bank said its investigation only confirmed an earlier inquiry, which found that the bank had fallen below minimum funding limits just once.

http://www.sbpost.ie/news/ireland/ifsc-whistleblowers-reporting-on-firms-56844.html



Do proceed with caution. Having recently met with senior officials at the Central Bank of Ireland, I can confirm that there was a need for some further clarification regarding what the CB meant when it offered 'confidentiality' in its statement to the Business Post last January.

Village magazine published the following item last Saturday:





Whistling into a gale -
Village magazine, June-August 2011, Miscellany, page 32

Nearly all Ireland's banks breached liquidity requirements, leading to the lack of liquidity that the government provided a guarantee against, and which ultimately emerged as the insolvency that has bankrupted the country and immiserated the next generation. It's important then to know what happened. In last December's Village a risk-manager whistleblower in the Irish unit of UniCredit, Italy's biggest bank, described how the Financial Regulator failed to intervene when he well... blew the whistle on massive repeated breaches, but no action followed. Shortly afterwards, largely as a result of the story, the Central Bank said it would conduct a review of the case and invited parties with information to share it. Things dragged out, but last month the risk-manager attended a meeting with the office of the regulator. The only thing is the Bank's offer of 'confidentiality' clearly was not enough to safeguard our hero's privilege against self incrimination. The [Central] Bank insists it must forward information to the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions] if there is evidence of a crime. There the issue rests - for the moment.

http://www.villagemagazine.ie/index.php/in-print/








For more information, please visit my blog at:
http://whistleblowerirl.blogspot.com/

[C. Flower]

It's very unclear why there is no investigation of these complaints.

More roosting ?

[jpc]

Somebody just doesn't want to know the truth, and have it know that they know the truth,
Because that means they have to act on what they know.
And where would that lead to?
Hypothetically anyone?

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Same in Germany. Merkel and co know how much the German banks have been gambling outside the liquidity rules in their home market.

Nobody wants the lid lifted on this because it means investigating the scale of gambling and the still unwound black cloud of CFDs hanging over the north sea.

I suspect some major German banks are actually bankrupt and their balance sheets in Germany are fake. This liquidity breach stuff is the thread that once pulled unravels the whole jumper.

[jpc]

Same in Germany. Merkel and co know how much the German banks have been gambling outside the liquidity rules in their home market.

Nobody wants the lid lifted on this because it means investigating the scale of gambling and the still unwound black cloud of CFDs hanging over the north sea.

I suspect some major German banks are actually bankrupt and their balance sheets in Germany are fake. This liquidity breach stuff is the thread that once pulled unravels the whole jumper.

Not much you can say about that.
The IFSC holds some very (interesting) surprises for all then!

[barrym]

Same in Germany. Merkel and co know how much the German banks have been gambling outside the liquidity rules in their home market.

Nobody wants the lid lifted on this because it means investigating the scale of gambling and the still unwound black cloud of CFDs hanging over the north sea.

I suspect some major German banks are actually bankrupt and their balance sheets in Germany are fake. This liquidity breach stuff is the thread that once pulled unravels the whole jumper.

A couple of days ago I posted this link -

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/business/12bank.html?pagewanted=4&_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha25 a

about the boss of Deutsche Bank - it says that he rescued a German bank after Merkel phoned him..... An implication of the article is that he and the other German bankers won't play ball on Greece because they cannot afford it...., they are already stretched. It also says he is, in effect, running the Euro show and Merkel lets him.

It could mean that the German banks are weak, the market knows it but if one of them went under then the game is up globally. See also The Fed chairman pleading for their borrowing limit to be upped. Add to this that the Chinese are the real ring holders here, they hold the biggest amounts of $ and €, if they start throwing shapes......

B

[jpc]

A couple of days ago I posted this link -

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/business/12bank.html?pagewanted=4&_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha25 a

about the boss of Deutsche Bank - it says that he rescued a German bank after Merkel phoned him..... An implication of the article is that he and the other German bankers won't play ball on Greece because they cannot afford it...., they are already stretched. It also says he is, in effect, running the Euro show and Merkel lets him.

It could mean that the German banks are weak, the market knows it but if one of them went under then the game is up globally. See also The Fed chairman pleading for their borrowing limit to be upped. Add to this that the Chinese are the real ring holders here, they hold the biggest amounts of $ and €, if they start throwing shapes......

B

A lot of German and Austrian money went East and you you have to ask how good the return on that is?
The carry on facilitated by the IFSC might be the tip of a very nasty iceberg.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

The bank that bought Anglo Irish Austria AG is an Austrian outfit called Vallartis. Their lawyers released a statement in Vienna when they bought that subsidiary from Fitzpatrick and the boys which said they were delighted with the purchase as it increased their presence in eastern Europe.

600million in cash deposits that subsidiary had and no liabilities to speak of. Kind of gives you an idea whose money was hanging around in that bank doesn't it? Or at least where the bulk of its depositors were from, geograpically speaking.

And Anglo at the time was screaming for liquidity- and gave Valartis a 24million euro to take that very liquid subsidiary off their hands on the hurryup. Fitzpatrick and co couldn't offload it fast enough.

Sniff sniff ....

[Sidewinder]

Calling the good Cap'n and Whistleblower....what's going on with Unicredit today? Unicredit shares have been suspended on the Milan exchange, Italian bank and State CDS rates are spiking....looks like Italy is about to get interesting....

[Dr. FIVE]

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/meanwhile-europe

[Dr. FIVE]

Interesting comment from Jonathan on Golem


the chairman of UniCredit Ireland at the time of my resignation, is now a member of the board of directors at the Central Bank of Ireland


http://t.co/W3zGfJwR

[WhistleblowerIRL]

Here is the acual letter of appointment, Dr. FIVE:



Press Release

Appointments by the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance to the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland

Brian Cowen T.D., Tánaiste and Minister for Finance announced today the appointment of Dr. Brian Hillery and Mr. Dermot O’Brien as Directors of the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland. The appointments are to replace Mr. Roy Donovan and Dr. Martin O’ Donoghue who will be stepping down from their positions.

.....

Biography note on new appointees:

Dr. Brian Hillery is currently Chairman of both Independent News and Media plc and Providence Resources plc and, until this appointment, was Chairman of UniCredit Bank (Ireland) plc. Dr. Hillery was formerly an Executive Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, London. He is Professor Emeritus of the Graduate School of Business, UCD.

http://www.finance.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=5278


Perhaps this explains why the Central Bank is having such difficulties in producing the minutes of our meeting of 23 Feb. this year.

In this era of 'transperacny', both I and Michael Smith of Village magazine, who attended the meeting with me, had to undertake that we would not record the meeting in any way.

Perhaps the acknowledgements that were made by the CB people at the meeting are the stumbling block in producing minutes of the meeting. These acknowledgements could potentially put Prof. Hillery in a slightly un-confortable position....

[Dr. FIVE]

Thanks Jonathan
Finger in the INM pie as well, deary me

[C. Flower]

A suggestion here for some form of financial wikileaks. Too many whistleblowers have to deal with huge pressures on their own.

http://www.ianfraser.org/how-financial-whistleblowers-can-avoid-being-stabbed-in-the-back/

[WhistleblowerIRL]

This is in today's Indo. Will the Regulator's office have to come clean after all?





Regulator is silent over action taken on Unicredit complaint

By Mark Keenan

Monday August 27 2012


THE Financial Regulator has refused to reveal what action has been taken in regard to a serious complaint of liquidity irregularities made to his office in 2007 by a whistle-blowing former banker regarding Unicredit Bank Ireland.

It was alleged that the regulator received details that Unicredit Bank Ireland, an offshoot of Italy's biggest bank, had been operating in the IFSC with liquidity levels vastly below what was required by law.

In addition, Jonathan Sugarman, a former executive with Unicredit Bank Ireland, has consistently claimed that the Irish regulator's office took no action regarding his complaint.

Mr Sugarman was appointed risk manager for Unicredit Bank Ireland back in 2007 when it had an operation worth $50bn (€39.94bn) based in Dublin's IFSC.

Upon assuming the new position, Mr Sugarman claimed to have noticed serious irregularities in the bank's liquidity levels. The bank was required by law to keep assets and cash in reserve equivalent to 90pc of its liabilities. Mr Sugarman says he believed Unicredit was operating in Dublin with cover of just 70pc. Having called in independent consultants to confirm his fears, he then claims to have raised the matter with his superior at the bank. He says he was told "not to worry."

However, Mr Sugarman resigned his position and claims he then approached the Irish Financial Regulator's office in late 2007 to report the irregularities -- as required by law.


Fraud

He claims the Irish regulator did nothing about his complaint.

Alessandro Profumo, who was CEO of the accused bank's parent company, Unicredit -- from 1997 to 2010 and during the period covered by Mr Sugarman's complaint -- is now preparing to go on trial for fraud in Italy on October 1.

Mr Profumo and 16 past and present employees of Unicredit will have to answer charges that they had cooked the books to defraud the Italian taxpayer out of €245m taxes on profits.

The charges relate directly to practices during the period 2007 to 2008.

When contacted on this matter, the Financial Regulator Matthew Elderfield said in a statement that: "The Central Bank met with Mr Sugarman and received some information from him and took the appropriate action."

When the Irish Independent enquired about what the regulator meant by "appropriate action", the regulator's office said there would be no more correspondence on the matter.

Late last year investigators from Australia's state-run ABC TV network also contacted the Irish regulator's office to ask what had come of Mr Sugarman's complaint against Unicredit Ireland.

In a reply late last year, ABC says it received a letter from the Irish Financial Regulator's office to say that it was still examining the allegations first brought by Mr Sugarman.

Yesterday Fianna Fail's finance spokesman Michael McGrath said: "It is essential that the Irish Financial Regulator should account for how the complaint -- dating to late 2007 and relating to liquidity reserves -- has been dealt with."

Mr Sugarman could not be contacted by the Irish Independent.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/regulator-is-silent-over-action-taken-on-unicredit-complaint-3210447.html


PS
I made contact with Mark Keenan this morning. Anyone seeking further info can contact me at:
Whistleblower.IRL@gmail.com

[Ephilant]

the Financial Times reported yesterday that Unicredit is currently also being investigated by the US for breaking sanctions in relation to Iran.
According to Unicredit, the investigation centers on HypoVereinsbank which it purchased in 2005, now operating as UniCredit Bank AG.

This follows hard on the heals of the investigations into HSBC and Standard & Chartered.
The FT also has a separate report on RBS being under investigation for... yes indeed, breaking sanctions relating to Iran.
And to finish of the good news on banks, the FT also reports that Anglo Irish Bank, also knows as IBRC has reported losses of 743 million Euro for the first 6 months of 2012.

[Dr. FIVE]

*rubs eyes*

Why now Jonathan? Has there been further developments or is someone getting nervous?

[C. Flower]

Good, clear piece by Mark Keenan.

Why now, indeed.

The Iran sanctions business is a form of trade war by the US against the European financial services sector.

[WhistleblowerIRL]

*rubs eyes*

Why now Jonathan? Has there been further developments or is someone getting nervous?

Dr., it is probably safe to say that someone is getting nervous.

My meeting at the Regulator's office earlier this year and the subsequent correspondence gives a whole new meaning to the notion of state-sanctioned gangster tactics. There were several senior Central Bank officials present at the meeting. I do wonder how they sleep at night? especially considering the fact that it is the increasingly-squeezed Irish tax payer who pays their wages.

This is not over yet.

[C. Flower]

Good to see that someone is going to trial, even though not in Ireland.



Alessandro Profumo, who was CEO of the accused bank's parent company, Unicredit -- from 1997 to 2010 and during the period covered by Mr Sugarman's complaint -- is now preparing to go on trial for fraud in Italy on October 1.

[WhistleblowerIRL]

It would seem that Mark Keenan is rattling some more cages in today's Indo:






IFSC banks circle their wagons as Elderfield tries to tame 'Wild West'

Thursday August 30 2012

The Financial Services Centre's German banks have been particularly reluctant to accept regulation, writes Mark Keenan

LAST weekend, foreign sailing ships of the sort that once brought big world commerce to Dublin were again tethered before Gandon's Custom House -- the city's original international trade centre.

Its modern equivalent, the IFSC, swarmed with strollers and the vacant lots beneath Anglo Irish Bank's still-born headquarters were transformed into a carnival. Amid the dodgems and merry-go-rounds, revellers occasionally looked up to marvel at the skeletal shell.

The "tombstone to the Celtic Tiger" (as it was christened by a commercial court judge), has just been bought by the Central Bank and will soon house its 1,500-strong complement of staff.

Among those set to occupy the stale husk of bad boy banking will be Matthew Elderfield's squad of regulators and finance sheriffs who know that the 'Tombstone' -- set square as it is in the midst of the IFSC's 250 banks and financial firms -- is the perfect spot from which to hone Ireland's new-fangled, hands-on regulatory banking regime.

Despite taking a goring from the world financial crisis, the IFSC flagship still generates a billion in corporate taxes each year and almost the same again in payroll taxes for the national exchequer.

But for the international companies that once made so much hay in pre-crash era Dublin -- and many of them originally embarked here for its famous "light touch" regulation -- the carnival might seem to be well and truly over. They certainly won't relish the proximity of their inquisitive new neighbours.

With Mr Elderfield's minions already running hither and thither through their affairs, they're a long way from 2005 when the 'New York Times' famously described an unfettered IFSC as the "wild west" of international finance.

Since his appointment to clean up Dodge City in October 2009, Mr Elderfield has been making steady and determined headway in creating "assertive regulation backed by a credible threat of enforcement".

"We have taken a risk-based and proportionate approach to addressing the gaps (in basic regulatory structure). New corporate governance standards are now in place aimed at raising standards by encouraging greater focus on governance and a broadening of the gene pool of Irish corporate life by bringing more diversity and experience onto boards," is how he put it not so long ago.

"We have introduced a new, assertive, risk-based supervisory model -- we call it PRSM -- which is tailored to the impact and risk a particular firm poses and therefore allows us to apply a proportionate supervisory effort. And new Fitness and Probity standards have been introduced."

Having shown his steel, most notably in his "show me the money" stand-off with the Quinn empire and even his controversial assertion that his staff could do with a better education, Mr Elderfield has proved he is tough to trifle with, something the Germans at the IFSC long ago discovered.

Behind the scenes, a quiet war has been going on for almost three years between the regulator and the foreign-owned banks based at the IFSC -- with the all the stuffy boardroom formality and sang froid that international bankerdom can muster.

To help pay for the Central Bank's new staff and a never used IFSC headquarters, fees charged to the various IFSC banks have been doubled -- just one of the sore subjects currently festering among the bosses of the IFSC's foreign-owned operations.

The rub for Mr Elderfield has been getting the balance right between a regulatory system that permits innovation and one that veers into flagrant "light touch." Those in pinstripes will obviously have a very different view.

The latest issue to simmer the international banks is the Central Bank's new probity requirements -- which must be complied with by at the end of this year. Through these, certain staff at high levels must answer stiff questionnaires to vouch for their own personal financial positions. Essentially, the regulator gets to say which big shots you employ and which ones you don't. Big world banks are not used to such intimately personal probity probings -- especially from a backwater regime in a bailout state.

This perceived localised impertinence comes on top of Basel 3, the most recent installation of the international Basel Accords, which call for universally strengthened capital requirements and new regulations for liquidity amid the global regulatory backlash.

As the Elderfield roundheads increasingly rummage through their drawers, the Dublin-based foreign captains have become more and more reticent.

The cavalier element among them might hanker after the good old days when Central Bank mandarins kept to themselves in their dusty old Dame Street tower. Days when smart bankers like themselves could circumvent a potentially tricky Dame Street meeting simply by scheduling it close to 5pm -- knowing that the only thing the Stephenson tower occupants were known to be zealous about in those days was going-home time.

A senior executive in one foreign-based bank adds: "The Central Bank people felt unfairly blamed for the banking crisis. Now they're complete sticklers for every rule in the book. It's not the presence of the regulations that are contentious as such, rather how the regulations are enforced. A lot of the foreign-owned banks feel it's making business more difficult and some have even been talking about pulling out."

Recently a posse of big German banks called for the centralisation of banking supervision under the ECB in order to "remove the influence of national politics in supervision" and to bring a "European level of supervision to banking". It was ostensibly a call to take lax banking away from profligate countries like Spain (and presumably, Ireland). We can also wonder if such a move would ease those pesky frisking of their outpost regions by local enforcers like Mr Elderfield.

The same German banks fired the first warning shot across Mr Elderfield's bows in 2010. In a strongly worded letter, the Germans threatened to pull out of the IFSC altogether if he pressed ahead with certain reforms in the banking sector -- notably those concerning corporate governance.

"The marketing of the IFSC is at present a difficult task. Perceived over-regulation would make it impossible," they fumed in 2010.

The German banks have also been sniffy about their directors being subjected to the same probity shakedowns as those of more obviously errant Irish-based banks. Also getting up their nose is Mr Elderfield's demand for non-executive directors to exert more influence at board level.

"Irish non-executive directors generally are recruited according to their skills, which compliment those of the shareholder representatives on the board. This inevitably leads to a lesser degree of non-executive director independence than may be proposed by the governing codes," the letter asserted.

Mr Elderfield pushed on with his governance rules, and thus far they're still here. Round one to him.

Mark Yeandle, of the City of London-based financial think- tank Z/Yen Group, adds: "The Germans are "pulling out" of the City of London every year, because the taxes are too high or the regulations or too severe -- they moan about absolutely everything. But we ignore them and they stay anyway. It's a tactic they use.

"But London is a world leading centre and Dublin, as a much smaller hub, is far more susceptible to bullying. That said, wherever an economy gets into trouble because of the financial base, there's always a regulatory knee-jerk. You do have to be careful that you don't over-regulate."

Pat Farrell represents the Irish Banking Federation, which recently kicked off very publicly against the Central Bank last week over claims that Irish banks weren't lending to business. He says things have calmed down somewhat between the regulator and the international banks since 2010. "Admittedly there had been a quite fraught atmosphere until maybe a year ago. But since then there have been some concessions made and I don't think that at this point, anyone is about to pull out of Ireland."

Despite the IFSC's foreign-owned companies claiming difference from their sullied Irish counterparts, there is also a history of dirtied bibs in their ranks.

In 2005, Dublin-based Cologne RE played a pivotal role in a sham scheme to inflate the reserves of US insurance giant AIG -- the scandal that originally brought the IFSC its international "wild west" monicker. US Investigators heard that "Cologne RE was seen as an ideal location for the fraud because Dublin "did not report to anyone" and so avoided the "North American problem" of financial regulation.

In 2007, German bank Sachsen LB needed a bailout when it was discovered that its two Dublin-based investment vehicles had insufficient assets to cover their liabilities.

There was the Depfa bank scandal. The subsidiary of Hypo real Estate ran into trouble in 2008, eventually prompting a bailout by the German government that is still the biggest in Irish banking history.

The regulator still won't reveal what action, if any, had been taken against Unicredit's IFSC subsidiary in 2007 when whistleblower banker Jonathan Sugarman, then its risk manager, shopped his bank to the Irish regulator after alleging that its liquidity reserves were 20pc below the legally required limit. Sugarman has since claimed the regulator's office did nothing about it.

Meantime, 16 executives from the parent company, including the CEO, are going on trial in Italy for cooking the books in that year.

So what did Mr Elderfield first make of Dublin when he arrived here from Bermuda back in 2009? Was there much cleaning up to do?

"I think the "wild west" moniker was unfair. I suppose it has to be seen in the light of the nervous international environment at the time and the difficulties in global banking impacting on some of the international banks which had operations at the IFSC.

"But there were some regulatory issues at the IFSC and we are working to tackle these. Change was needed and that change is being implemented."

He cites an absence of effective standards for corporate governance and fitness and probity. "There was a need for a more assertive supervisory approach, where regulators challenge firms on important issues."

Mr Elderfield asserts that his proposed regulations aren't always cast in stone and when a reasonable argument has been made against his changes, he takes heed.

"We consulted widely with firms before we introduced new corporate governance and fitness and probity standards. We weighed up carefully all the responses we received and where a good case was made, we adjusted our standards.

"It is true to say that some banks had an issue with our proposal that the chairman of a subsidiary company operating in the IFSC should be independent of the parent company. We considered that objection and decided to revise our proposal. I believe in open, constructive and transparent dialogue with industry on regulatory changes and on issues that arise; this allows us to arrive at solutions that will work."

But overall it is clear that he believes the banks can take the medicine. It's a tough game of poker, however, if 30,000 jobs are at stake, as some will claim.

"I am not aware of any banks that have left the IFSC/Ireland because of regulations the central bank has introduced. We have no evidence or examples of that."

A senior source with an international bank agrees that Mr Elderfield has given leeway, particularly in the past year:

"There has been some amount of backing off from the regulator, but not much. Banks have been given individual exceptions from certain regulatory aspects. Of course no one knows who has the benefit of what exceptions."

The source claims that on a regulatory rating of one to 10, Ireland has moved from a three to a nine and more recently, back to eight.

While the stiffening of the regulatory regime may not have played such a big role as claimed, the German assertion that Ireland would become a less attractive location for international banking has already come to pass.

The Global Financial Centres Index 9gfci), published twice annually by the London-based financial thinktank Z/Yen, reflects the views of 1,400 international bankers. In 2009, Dublin featured in its top 10 of financial centres in the world. Most recently in the March study, Dublin had fallen to 46th position and, according to Z/Yen, is likely to fall further in the next survey due next month -- perhaps even taking Dublin outside the top 50 for the first time since the survey began.

There is a perception that the IFSC is at a crossroads. Some say it can cover itself by specialisation -- whether that be "green funds" through the so-called "Green IFSC" or as a European hub for sharia banking.

The founding of the promotionary group IFSC Ireland in 2010 was one ruse to improve its appeal worldwide along with closer working with the IDA to attract new employers.

Mark Yeandil, editor of the GFCI, says this is the right thing to do. "Toronto in particular has proven that getting out around the world and marketing your services to the right people does have an effect."

Unlike the IDA, however, IFSC lobbyist John Bruton's sales pitches seemed more focused on the companies already in the IFSC than new ones that might get into it. In interviews, he has stressed the importance of ensuring companies that are already in the IFSC, remain committed to Ireland.

"If the IFSC consists of 500 separate firms in a range of different sectors, these are mobile jobs. They are here by choice and they can leave by choice," he has said.

The bankers' moans also fly in the face of the fact that lightness of touch, despite the moral issues involved, cannot prevail for Ireland, particularly given that a trading partner as important as the USA is already on the warpath against lax banking havens worldwide.

As Mr Elderfield gears into the final phases of his regulatory drive and the IFSC's foreign employed bankers become more accustomed to frequent intrusions in the name of better practice, there are contrasting views as to where the future of the IFSC will go.

[WhistleblowerIRL]

Cont.




Mark Yeandil adds: "Despite the low ranking in our report, I think Dublin is largely making the right moves. I think in the years ahead we'll see it move slowly up into the 20s. When the IFSC opened first it marketed itself based on an educated English speaking workforce with low costs. Low rents, low wages, and low corporate tax rates. Now only the tax rates are low. But as a financial centre, Dublin still has very skilled English-speaking personnel with that important access to Europe, and it is fundamentally not as damaged as it has been portrayed."

Others are less optimistic. One banker says: "In the past when they made huge profits, the big European banks would somehow find a way of channelling as much of it as possible through Dublin to avail of the cheap corporate tax rate. Now, given massive losses at the parent companies, and their probable ability to write them forward, there's simply no good reason for them to be here. Why have a load of staff located abroad in Dublin with all the costs that entails when there's no profit to write off?"

For his part, Mr Elderfield remains staunch in his belief that reputation enabled by proper regulation is paramount.

"For the IFSC to be a continuing success, it is important to maintain a strong reputation for high standards. The IFSC and Ireland, like other jurisdictions, are facing a very big international agenda of change as a result of the financial crisis. Some of the new regulatory requirements are already clear -- for example Solvency II for insurance and implementation of Basel 3 for banks.

"But there will be other areas where new regulatory actions will emerge -- for example, shadow banking, which will impact the money market fund industry in Ireland and the securities lending and repo market. A possible banking union in the European Union, which would involve the centralisation of supervision, is another emerging issue," Mr Elderfield says.

"In my experience, industry generally is well aware of the need for change and the importance of change to ensure a successful future for the IFSC," he adds.

Thus far at least, the man is not for moving.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/ifsc-banks-circle-their-wagons-as-elderfield-tries-to-tame-wild-west-3214910.html

[Baron von Biffo]

Good to see that someone is going to trial, even though not in Ireland.


Alessandro Profumo, who was CEO of the accused bank's parent company, Unicredit -- from 1997 to 2010 and during the period covered by Mr Sugarman's complaint -- is now preparing to go on trial for fraud in Italy on October 1.



Another Profumo scandal. :)