# Membership of Financial Services Bodies announced



## Brendan Burgess (28 Sep 2004)

The Minister for Finance today announced the membership of the various financial services consultative bodies. 


*Financial Services Ombudsman Council*
The Financial Services Ombudsman Council will consist of the following members:

John Colgan (member, Insurance Ombudsman Council) 

Crozier Deane  (Chair,  Insurance Ombudsman Board)

Dermot Jewell (CEO, Consumers Association)

Paul Joyce (solicitor, Free Legal Aid Centres)(FLAC))

Paddy Leydon  (Chair, Credit Institutions Ombudsman Board)  

Paul Lynch (CEO, Irish Brokers Association)

Paddy Lyons (former  Chair of Competition Authority)

Jim McMahon (Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU))

Caitriona Ni Charra (Coordinator, Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS))

Dr Con Power (economic consultant) (Chair)





*The Financial Services Consultative Consumer Panel will consist of the following members:*

Brendan Burgess  (founder, Askaboutmoney.Com)  (Chair)

Frances Byrne  ( Director, One Parent Exchange and Network (OPEN))

Olive Byrne (hospice worker and housewife)

Liam Coen (newsagent and farmer)

Michael Connolly (Consultant)

Eddie Hobbs (Finance Spokesperson, Consumers Association)

Anne Hogan (teacher (agricultural college) and housewife)

Michael Kilcoyne (Chair, Consumers Association) 

Eileen Lynch (housewife)

John Maher  (Lecturer in Accounting and Finance, Waterford Institute of Technology)

Joan Morrison (Former Chair of Consumers Association)

David McWilliams (journalist and economist)

Professor Noel Mulcahy (former Executive Vice President, University of Limerick)

Ann Owens (housewife and student)

Raymond O’Rourke (Consumer Lawyer)

Sean O’Sullivan (Company Director)

Aileen Power (Journalist)

Fiona Reynolds  (Solicitor)

Peter Ryan (retired Industry Executive)

William Ryan (Company Director)


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## Thyroid (29 Sep 2004)

*So*

What powers will the Consumer panel have? Will you be able to do your own public reports of IFSRA's performance? 

If IFSRA policy goes knowingly defies the panel's proposals what happens? What measures are there to prevent your committee becoming a toothless talking shop?


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## darag (29 Sep 2004)

*Re: So*

well done brendan.  i have to admit that i put my name in the hat for the consumer panel but the composition of the panel looks good.  like thyroid, i'm curious about whether the panel's voice will carry much weight within the agency.

for example, here are a couple of things which are annoying me at the moment:

1. the shoddiness of the recent "personal loans cost survey".  do they have anyone capable of checking simple sums?  who made the decision to recommend using the total cost of credit to compare loan value?  this is a very poor publication and does not inspire confidence.

2. the bloody irritating "xx is regulated by the irish financial services regulation agency blah blah blah" which is spoken at the end of every ad for a financial product on the radio and telly.  i wonder how much it ends up costing the institutions in terms of air time?  it must be hundreds of thousands a year.  why doesn't the ifsra just run it's own advertising campaign informing the public who they are and what they do?  also it strikes me as classic tokenism - they get publicity and their name bandied about the airwaves without actually achieving anything toward their supposed function.  they could easily be more proactive and less attention hungry; for example they could insist that the media pass on all ads to do with financial products to them before they're aired or printed.  the ifrsa could then decide whether the product falls under their authority and whether it complies with whatever regulations they have.  this would constitute real regulation.

anyway, thankfully the panel looks like it will genuinely represent the interests of consumers.  i just hope the panel is given real powers to raise issues with the ifsra;  it's performance upto now has been underwhelming to say the least.


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## Brendan Burgess (29 Sep 2004)

*Re: So*

Hi Thyroid

Here is the relevant bit from the Act about the functions of the Panel:



> (a) to monitor the performance by the Regulatory Authority of its functions and responsibilities under this Act;
> 
> (b) to provide the Regulatory Authority with comments with respect to the performance of its functions and responsibilities;
> 
> ...



...



> In making or issuing a policy document or regulatory document, the Regulatory Authority
> shall take into account the advice (if any) provided by a Consultative Panel on any aspect of the document. *If the Regulatory Authority declines to give effect to any particular advice provided by the Panel, it shall provide the Panel with a written statement setting out its reasons for declining to give effect to the advice and shall, if the Panel so requires, publish the statement.*



So it is a consultative panel and not the board of IFSRA or a management committee. It will express the consumer view which IFSRA may well reject after taking into account regulatory, prudential and industry concerns. 

I have made both points made by Darag before. Now I will be able to make them via the Panel directly to IFSRA. It should increase the chances of them being taken on board. 

Brendan


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## Curious George (29 Sep 2004)

*Where are the ordinary guys ?*

It looks interesting, but two things come to mind.

1) why has the consumer association got 2 or 3 members on the panel ?
2) it looks like most of the men with a few exceptions are "grey hair" while the women are split between "grey hair" and "regular" people. I don't see too many male "workers" listed.

Hopefully the panel will be in a position to provide good advice to IFSRA, at least someone is trying.


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## maranello (29 Sep 2004)

*talking shops*

Well congratulations to all the appointees to these panels. If nothing else it will give them an opportunity to massage each others egos, though looking at one or two of the names on the lists their egos are pretty well massaged already. What practical purpose it serves is beyond me.

Who's funding all this nonsense anyway?

If it is the taxpayer it is an absurd waste of taxpayers' funds. If it is the financial institutions then it is a flagrant abuse of shareholder value.


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## Bongo (29 Sep 2004)

*How is this goin' to work*

Picture 20 people at a meeting, each one with a bigger ego than the next, and no overriding discipline (like fear of losing your job) to put manners on them.  

This is going to be a Tower of Babel.  

Brendan, you sure have your work cut out chairing this one.


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## maranello (29 Sep 2004)

*talking shops*

By the way I do not include Mr Burgess in my comments above about egos, I had certain other individuals in mind.


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## Guest (29 Sep 2004)

*talking shops*

> 1) why has the consumer association got 2 or 3 members on the panel ?

Why not? They are the main consumer representative body in the country so it's hardly surprising that they have a few members (who, like many of the other people involved, have other roles outside of their CA membership) on the consumer panel. 

> 2) it looks like most of the men with a few exceptions are "grey hair" while the women are split between "grey hair" and "regular" people. I don't see too many male "workers" listed.

Perhaps that simply reflects the demographic makeup of the applicants? What's the alternative? Age and sex (and perhaps other demographic criteria) related quotas? (Ugh!).


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## Curious George (29 Sep 2004)

*Yes but*

The consumer association already exists as an entity commenting on consumer issues in its own right. I would have thought that having one person on the panel to represent the views of the association as well as their own personal views would have been sufficient, but then I'm not the person picking the panel. I would equate it with having a number of members of AAM on the panel.  I would ask the same question if a number of members of AAM were appointed.

Perhaps age and sex quotas mightn't be such a bad issue if the aim of the panel is to represent the consumer view on issues facing IFSRA. Consumers are made up of a varied mix of male/female old/young single/married employed/unemployed people. There is logic in thinking that a panel representing them be made up of a similar spread of people. I am not saying that the panel must be 100% representative of the population. Howevere, If the aim of the panel is to look at regulatory issues from the perspective of the impact on the consumer then perhaps it might have been better to load it with more banking executives who have experience of the impact of financial regulation on the public.

I'm not saying there is an inherent problem with the individuals or the composition of the panel.


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## Brendan Burgess (29 Sep 2004)

*Re: Yes but*

I don't know many of the people on the committee. I am hoping that one or two of them will introduce themselves privately to me as Sueellen or Tharg or whoever. If there are three or four people who participate in Askaboutmoney, it would be no harm at all.

Likewise, having a few people from the Consumers' Association is great.


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