Learning to live by the rule book

It is comforting to know that the Pensions Board has found little evidence of serious fraud in its examination of a number of pension schemes, but in a situation where more than 91 per cent of the 196 schemes examined failed to get a completely clean bill of health, there is little scope for congratulations.

The tendency of the Irish not to worry too much about the precise observance of regulations may only rarely impinge on pension fund members, but it needs to go badly wrong just once - which is, after all, what the rules are there to prevent.

Not that the problem is confined to pension funds. A compliance survey carried out by the Companies Office discovered that the rate of compliance by Irish companies with filing regulations was a mere 13 per cent. Among the laggards were a number of companies which rest in the mid-capitalisation sector of the Irish Stock Exchange.

In the light of recent corporate scandals and collapses, it is not before time that a clampdown has been initiated.