Results 3,521-3,540 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Thank you.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: I want to go through the Nyberg report with Professor Walsh, if I may. I presume the professor has read that report.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: In the written statement provided to the committee, Professor Walsh references the argument that "international accounting standards had prevented more prudent provisioning for possible future losses during the growth phase of the cycle" but says he believes that this conclusion may be too strong.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: When the professor says a diversion, does he mean in terms of apportioning blame for how the risks were missed?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: That implies then that the banks understand the risks of this pro-cyclical impairment accounting.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Professor Walsh spoke about inadequate disclosures concerning the increased risks faced by the banks. If there is nothing preventing the banks from disclosing, why do they not do so?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: So, the auditor comes in, on an annual basis, to the banks. Nyberg also says that the new standards that we have referred to meant that external auditors could not insist on earlier loan-loss provisioning. Does the professor agree?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: When one talks about "external users", are the auditors in that category? Do they understand the accounts in the same way the banks would? Do they understand the risks in the same way as those preparing the accounts for the auditors would?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Is it fair to say that they would have understood the risks on the bank balance sheets being presented to them?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Nyberg also states that the combination of growing property and funding exposures, combined with material governance failings, should have raised questions for the auditors about the sustainability of a bank's business if they were exercising the necessary "professional scepticism". What does Professor Walsh understand from that?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: I am trying to get a sense of the obligations on the auditors if they understand risks on a balance sheet but are performing their duties in accordance with the accounting standards. Are there obligations on them to ring a warning bell if that were required?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: In terms of breaches in prudential sector lending-limit guidelines, four of the covered banks breached those limits for property and construction lending between 2002 and 2008 but in a majority of cases the auditors did not report these excesses to the Financial Regulator. Is that unusual?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: In terms of information flowing directly from the banks to the regulator - in the context of how an external user would understand them - would the risks that were being built up on the balance sheets of the banks have been obvious to the regulator?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: If the regulator becomes concerned, he has the power to request more information.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Is it unusual, as happened in 2008, for the regulator to instruct auditing firms to report concerns with liquidity or solvency they might have had from the 2007 audits? Is that an unusual thing?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: I thank Mr. McWilliams for attending. One area the inquiry is obliged to examine is the relationship between developers and politicians. In Mr. McWilliams's view, is there a relationship between political donations and political decision making?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Mr. McWilliams touched upon this matter quite a few times in his book, Follow the Money, and stated that politicians could not make decisions that might inconvenience builders and bankers. He proceeded to relate two stories, one about Bertie Ahern and the second about a golf classic hosted by Brian Cowen. Was he making an implication when he made that statement and followed it up by...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: In his book Mr. McWilliams stated that, in the context of the 2007 general election, 71% of donations to political parties came from people involved in property development.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: This matter is interesting, particularly in terms of the idea for a guarantee that Mr. McWilliams was promoting and the fact that the actual guarantee that was implemented was different to that.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Feb 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Professor Edward Kane, who came before us previously, has indicated: A government’s willingness to rescue different firms lies on a continuum and is influenced by several variables. In particular, a firm’s access to political elites grows with its interconnectedness, geographic footprint, and the number of employees and creditors that can be persuaded to contribute on its...