June 26 2016
Peter Oakes, a former director of enforcement at the financial regulator, said his comments were sparked by a Sunday Independent story that revealed how a Dublin-based bank was used to funnel cash in an alleged $114m global-bribes scandal.
Following allegations that stg£7m was transferred to an Isle of Man account to pay ‘fixers’ involved in Nama’s Project Eagle loan-book sale, Oakes said that Ireland is facing global “reputational risk” as a result of the ongoing bad publicity.
Citing concerns over “inadequate procedures in place for investigating and reporting suspicious transactions”, Oakes, a regulatory lawyer and founder of Fintech Ireland, said “there is much room for immediate improvement and ratcheting up of board-level deliberation on this important area of financial-crime governance”. The Central Bank also looks after enforcement in the funds sector. Irish domiciled funds have a net asset value of almost €1.8 trillion, making them a key part of the financial services sector. The Central Bank also noted a reliance on third parties to conduct elements of customer due diligence, and insufficient evidence of “effective ongoing monitoring of investor transactions”.