Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 27 May 2015

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis

Nexus Phase

Mr. Tony Grimes:

In my view, this, in a way, would go to the heart of the moral hazard issue with regard to ELA in that, traditionally, it has always been thought that central banks would never pre-commit to give ELA because if ... if it did, there was the risk that, you know, a bank would engage, you know, in a type of reckless activity and, you know, there was a feeling always - and it's not just here - that actually you would not want them to count on you if something went wrong. So ... so there was no pre-commitment here. It ... it was always entirely at the discretion of the local central bank. So, constructive ambiguity referred to that. It was to avoid the moral hazard issue that might arise.