It is interesting to read the Minister of Finance’s Dail statement that lays out the strategy behind the government’s approach to the banking sector: you can read it here.
It is interesting to read the Minister of Finance’s Dail statement that lays out the strategy behind the government’s approach to the banking sector: you can read it here.
2 replies on “The Irish Strategy for the Banking Sector”
The Minister was proposing a counter motion to the Fine Gael motion here:
http://oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/ThisWeek/PMB-DAIL-2009/document7.htm
Fine Gael were looking for a series of measures, including replacing the Board of the Financial Regulator and a cap on bankers’ salaries. The Government motion kicks to touch on both:
The Government says it will “Review and reform of the structures, role and functioning of the Financial Regulator and the relationship with the Central Bank in light of the current situation. The stated intention of the Minister for Finance is to bring proposals in this regard to Government as a matter of urgency.”
It passes the buck on “the remuneration of senior executives and board members in Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland” to the CIRCO Committee headed by Mr Eddie Sullivan, which is due to report on this matter by 5 March 2009, and which will include a cap on the salaries of senior executives. I don’t expect Richie Boucher will settle for €250K. !
When the state took a stake in the banks through the €7bn Recapitalisation, there was a commitment to lend an additional 10% to SMEs (it is interesting to note that there is no benchmark date or amount as to what the 10% increase is based on!), and given that January’s lending to SMEs was €2.8billion lower than last January 2008.