Central Bank to review credit bureau

The Central Bank is considering the role of the Irish Credit Bureau as part of a bid to reform credit risk management in Irish banks.

Speaking this morning at the Irish Banking Federation's annual conference, the assistant director general of financial institutions supervision at the Central Bank, Jonathan McMahon, said it was difficult for banks to get a clear view of a person's total debt, due to a lack of a unique identifier for individuals.

"A measure to rectify this would of itself make a dramatic improvement to the quality of credit reference information," he said.

He said not all credit institutions in Ireland provide data to the existing credit reference agencies, and standards for the range of data that should be collected may be necessary.

However, the use of such data would have implications for data protection, an issue that regulators will be discussing with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, Mr McMahon said.

He addressed a number of other issues seen to be areas of concern in financial institutions, including the supply of suitable non-executives in Ireland, and executive pay and incentives.

Mr McMahon said non-executive directors of banks should be paid more to increase the pool available to financial institutions. Banks should not be afraid to employ those who were employed by financial institutions during the crisis.

"While new blood is required for the Irish banking system, the changes we are seeking do not exclude individuals employed by banks during the crisis," he said.

"There are clearly ex-bankers who should not resurrect careers in the Irish banking system. Conversely, there are individuals who have sought to learn from the crisis, and whose experience will make them valuable members of our banks' boards."

Mr McMahon also warned that banks were not doing enough to align executive remuneration and incentives with risk, with only one institution changing its practices.

"Put simply, no board ought to be making decisions on remuneration unless they have concluded what risks they wish to take, and which they wish to avoid; and no banker ought to be rewarded today for taking risks which lead to losses in the future," he said.

"While all banks have started to address this issue, the balance of our findings is discouraging, with only one institution having taken an obvious lead in reforming its practices."

A review of pay in Irish banks is to be published in November. The Central Bank also said today it would publish new corporate governance standards next month.