NEW GAMEKEEPER APPOINTED AT CENTRAL BANK !

Under growing international and local pressure, the Irish Central Bank is trying to clean up its act.

Matthew Elderfield has been appointed as Head of Financial Supervision in the new Central Bank of Ireland. Mr. Elderfield, currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA), will be responsible for all regulatory activities in the Central Bank.
The appointment has been welcomed by the Minister for Finance, who earlier this year announced that the Government intends to bring forward legislation to establish a single fully integrated regulatory institution within the Central Bank of Ireland.
And so well he might! After years of turning a blind eye to the nefarious activities of the Irish banks, let us hope that this guy will kick ass and make the banks conform to some sort of rules.
Announcing the appointment, Central Bank Governor, Patrick Honohan said: “I am delighted to welcome Matthew Elderfield to the Central Bank. He has very extensive experience of financial supervision and he has the qualities that are ideally suited to this very challenging role. We look forward to working with him as we re-shape the financial regulatory system in Ireland.”
That says it all, doesn’t it? In effect, he is admitting that the Central Bank was not doing its job before now. Well, we all knew that anyway!
Governor Honohan thanked Mary O’Dea who has been Acting Chief Executive of the Financial Regulator since February of this year. “Mary has brought the Financial Regulator through a very difficult time and has introduced significant changes to supervision which will be built on in the coming period.”
In other words Mary, has sat on her arse for years and done nothing and is now busily engaged in putting Chubb locks on the stables doors whilst the horses have long bolted.
Jim Farrell, Chairman of the Financial Regulator, said: “I very much welcome the appointment of Matthew Elderfield and wish him all the very best in his new role. In doing so I would also like to thank Mary O’Dea for the invaluable role she has played over recent months, a period of unprecedented challenge.”
For “unprecedented challenge” read: “in deep shit and getting deeper”
Matthew Elderfield has been Chief Executive of the BMA since July 2007. The BMA is the integrated regulator of the financial services sector in Bermuda and supervises all segments of the Bermuda financial markets. Prior to joining the BMA, Mr Elderfield spent eight years at the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) as a Head of Department in a variety of posts, responsible for exchange and clearing house supervision, for secondary markets and listing policy and for banking supervision. In this latter role, he represented the FSA on the Basel Accord Implementation Group and chaired the FSA panel responsible for economic capital model review.
Well at least he knows the scams that some of our banks were up to if he has experience in Bermuda. I wonder will he spot €7 billion moved from one crooked bank to another at reporting time. The other fools did not, or more likely, did not want to see it for fear of upsetting the applecart!
Before joining the FSA, Mr Elderfield established the European operations of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and held posts at the London Investment Banking Association, the British Bankers Association and a Washington, DC based consultancy firm, the Institute for Strategy Development.
Mr Elderfield graduated from Cambridge University in 1988 with a Masters degree in International Relations, and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Foreign Service, cum laude, from the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University in 1987.
Speaking about his appointment to the Central Bank, Mr Elderfield said: "I am very much looking forward to joining the Central Bank and to working with my new colleagues and our stakeholders on the challenges facing the financial regulatory system in Ireland."
Mr. Elderfield will take up his new position in January 2010.
www.financialireland.com, a leading Irish financial commentary website welcomed the news. www.currencyireland.com, another online financial information site welcomed the appointment with the caveat that it would "wait and see the improvement in regulation first"

Mr. Elderfield will take up his new position in January 2010.

We surely do look forward to it!