I was greatly encouraged when I read these two recent headlines, I wonder is this the dawn of a new era of financial law-enforcement in Ireland?
Only time and actions will tell.
Only time and actions will tell.
Irish regulator says Anglo's senior bonds at risk
By Carmel Crimmins and Huw JonesLONDON | Wed Apr 6, 2011 7:19am EDT
(Reuters) - Ireland may try to impose losses on senior bondholders in two defunct lenders if they need more capital, the banking regulator said on Wednesday, potentially putting the country on a collision course with the ECB.
The Frankfurt-based European Central Bank, which is helping keep Irish lenders afloat, is opposed to Ireland hitting senior bondholders with any losses in case it sparks contagion within the euro zone, exacerbating the bloc's debt crisis.
Matthew Elderfield, head of financial regulation at Ireland's central bank, said the government accepted the ECB view that it should not impose losses on senior bondholders in the country's four remaining lenders, but Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide, which are being wound down, were being viewed differently.....While concerns about the sector's level of capital should abate over the next 12 months, Elderfield said the process of shrinking their assets and improving their funding base would take much longer. "That is a project that will take years."
Elderfield said he will be far more intrusive in the banking sector in future. In particular, there will be regular checks on how much liquidity or cash-like assets banks have to ride out short-term turbulence in markets...
EU Banking Waits on a Knife-Edge - Wall Street Journal
By GEOFFREY T. SMITH, 7 APRIL 2011
Whisper it softly, but… is that?… can it be?… a light at the end of the tunnel of Europe's banking crisis?
The answer may yet be: "No, it's an oncoming train of disorderly sovereign default," but the news flow has, at the very least, stopped getting worse, and in some quarters is improving beyond any reasonable doubt.
...
Everything about the methodology suggests this was the action of a new broom sweeping clean, unencumbered by the need to protect political and boardroom reputations. (Quite the reverse, in fact:Ireland's regulator, Matthew Elderfield, has announced plans to re-examine the fitness and probity of every single bank director in the country.)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704101604576246911146923784.html
My e-mail address is: whistleblower.irl@gmail.com