Financial Regulator & The Consumer Panel

The Irish Property Bubble The Republic of Property
#1

The Consultative Consumer Panel of the Financial Regulator is a watchdog body; more on it here:

Introduction

In May, the panel of the Financial Regulator issued a report condemning the Financial Regulator for not attempting to control the property bubble:

Regulator ‘added to slump’ by failing to curb property bubble - The Irish Times - Tue, May 26, 2009

However, this strikes me as being too little, too late. Does anyone know if the Consumer Panel issues such warnings before and at the height of the bubble itself?

P.

#2

However, this strikes me as being too little, too late. Does anyone know if the Consumer Panel issues such warnings before and at the height of the bubble itself?
P.
As if the following panel would produce any report warning of the impending imploding bubble …
Planets fucked enough without wasting paper on a report from this bunch of cretins …

**Profiles of the Consumer Panel Members: **

Raymond O’Rourke is the Chair of the Panel. He is a food and consumer lawyer.

Kathleen Barrington is a freelance business journalist with special interest in personal finance issues.

Frances Byrne is the Director of One Parent Exchange and Network (OPEN). OPEN is the national network of lone parent self-help groups that have joined together to represent the interests of lone parents living in poverty and social exclusion.

Michael Culloty is Social Policy and Communications Officer with the Money Advice and Budgeting Service.

James Doorley is the nominee of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland (CAI) and a member of the CAI Council. He is currently Assistant Director of the National Youth Council of Ireland.

John Maher is a chartered accountant, and is a senior lecturer in Accounting and Finance at the Waterford Institute of Technology.

Professor Noel Mulcahy is former Executive Vice President of the University of Limerick. He is a former member of Seanad Eireann and is an alternate in the National Forum on Europe, Co-director of National Centre for Work- Based Learning.

Fidele Mutwarasibo is Research & Integration Officer with the Immigrant Council of Ireland.

Sean O’Sullivan is Chairman of the Centre for Financial Services Innovation and is also the Managing Director of Seabrook Research Limited, a software development company, based in Cork.

Fiona Reynolds is a solicitor in private practice.

Eileen Walsh is a senior volunteer member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul with a particular interest in national social policy and justice issues. She is Chair of the Policy Analysis Group of the Society.

Secretary: Colette Clancy, Financial Regulator

#3

I thought members of the consumer panel didn’t like discussion on the property market?

cough Brendan Burgess Cough

#4

Am I right in thinking that Brendan Burgess was on this panel at some point?

#5

Brendan Burgess CHAIRED the Consumer Panel at the time when talk of property prices going down was banned on his website

#6

Q. Who watches the watchers?
Ans. A bunch of people with full time jobs in other areas and less experience than the people they are supposed to be wathcing.

Bonus Point Q.: What occupations which would you expect to see represented in this group which are totally absent?
Bonus Point Ans: Economist and Banker.

#7

Actually I think it would be very bad to have bankers on the panel, and economists haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory either.

I don’t think there’s any qualification that necessarily shows that someone would be good.
Prior to Brendan Burgerss joining the panel I would have said he was perfect for the role.

His subsequent behaviour on property prices show just how wrong you can be, and how hard it is to
know who’ll be good and who’ll be bad.

-Rd

#8

Correct words, totally agree with you, if they can sit there wallowing in the prestige of being on a national committee and just happen to miss one of the world’s greatest property bubbles

Is there not a zoologist available to join the food lawyer, about as relevant. How about a race-horse trainer from the Seanad

About as useful as a FAS board.

#9

But property bubbles are good for consumers! Once you have consumed a property, you want the price to go up and up!

#10

I completely agree with this.

Bankers see/saw no issue with derivatives, but lets see how a shopkeeper reacts once derivatives are explained to them.

The Bankers took peoples mortgage payments & put in on a 33/1 shot in the 3:30 at Haydock IN FIVE TEARS TIME !!!

They then booked their eventual winnings as profits & took the shareholders & regulator that everything was cushty.

The less bankers &, ugh,economists on this body the better.

Just so long as it isn’t populated by failed politicians & their ex-girlfriends we won’t do to badly.

#11

It’s a strange world where Michael “Fingers” Fingleton made a good point about Brendan chasing Irish Nationwide:

independent.ie/business/iris … 62559.html

P.

#12

I see oceanclub started a thread over on P.ie as well .

This post analyses Brendans work , no mention of dodgy mortgage practices on Brendans watch . It covers the period before and after the discussion ban on his own site .

politics.ie/economy/75652-fi … ost1753117

( Click on the link above to get working links)

I’ve only had a chance to go through the minutes for the 12 months prior to the peak of the property bubble (February 2007):

February 2007:

financialregulator.ie/con…%20Minutes.pdf - no mention of property/mortgages

January 2007:

financialregulator.ie/con…%20Minutes.pdf - no mention of property/mortgages

December 2006:

financialregulator.ie/con…%20Minutes.pdf - no mention of property/mortgages

November 2006:

financialregulator.ie/con…%20Minutes.pdf - no mention of property/mortgages

October 2006:

financialregulator.ie/con…%20Minutes.pdf - no mention of property/mortgages

September 2006:

financialregulator.ie/con…%20Minutes.pdf - no mention of property/mortgages

July 2006:

financialregulator.ie/con…%20Minutes.pdf - no mention of property/mortgages
June 2006:

financialregulator.ie/con…%20Minutes.pdf - no mention of property/mortgages

May 2006:

financialregulator.ie/con…%20Minutes.pdf - no mention of property/mortgages
April 2006:

financialregulator.ie/con…%20Minutes.pdf - mention of lending practises of the Irish Nationwide Society

#13

I’m going to stick to my guns on this.
I do not see how a panel can seek to protect consumers unless there are members on that panel who understand the workings of the body they are overseeing. A banker and an economist might at least explain to the panel what was going on.

If the panel did not have the internal expertise to question the basic assumptions being made by the regulator then the panel could not be effective. You may as well have a solicitor overseeing the aeroplane maintenace work carried out by SR Technics.

The consumer panel surely had to rely on the banking and economic expertise of the Financial Regulator. As this was the FR’s own rose tinted view of things it prevented effective oversight. The panel is now probably getting is expertise from the print media. I suggest this panel be abandoned as having been totally ineffective, or did they do some good things too?

#14

Zinged by Fingers-that’s gotta hurt man.

#15

One AAM poster who called for the Consumer Panel to look into AIB was subsequently banned - no idea if the ban was related:
askaboutmoney.com/showthread … post144929

As was someone who posted about Brendan quitting the panel:

askaboutmoney.com/showthread … r+panel%22

P.

#16

There’s a new thread on the Consumer Panel and their recent report over on AAM, by BB himself:

askaboutmoney.com/showthread … post877504

Out very own yoganmahew makes a good point.

P.