Results 6,681-6,700 of 19,445 for speaker:Brian Cowen

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: We have consulted the Office of the Parliamentary counsel and it has advised that it could be unsound to delete this term. Accordingly we cannot support the Deputy's amendment.

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: Regarding the amendment before us, the definition of Irish investment services law in section 3 already includes the specific regulations referred to in the Deputy's proposed amendment so there is no need to refer to that part of the regulations, namely Regulation No. 188, which deals with summary offences. The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel agrees with this analysis and we are,...

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: Special investment vehicles are not regulated anywhere. Ireland has a good reputation for its financial services sector. The Deputy mentioned the importance of providing long-term employment in top quality jobs and I am glad to say that as a result of creating the financial services centre, an innovation this party was maligned for at the time, there are more than 25,000 well-paid jobs in...

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: I referred to acts of dishonesty by individuals who interact with the regulatory regime through authorised officers and others. The €10 million fine and-or imprisonment of ten years and making it an indictable offence are of sufficient deterrent effect to ensure people comply with the regulations as we set them out. On the situation in respect of those who do not comply with the MiFID...

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: Ormond Quay Funding was not regulated in this country and there was no liability, potential or otherwise, imposed on the Irish regulatory regime.

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: I am concerned about people giving publicity to suggesting there was some problem for the Irish regulatory regime. There was not. Yesterday, I answered this question by way of a parliamentary question put by Deputy Costello and my response explained the factual situation on that matter. The fact is that structured investment vehicles, SIVs, and conduits are not regulated. However, as a...

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: We have moved far from the section at this stage but I have given a full reply to a parliamentary question on Ormond Quay which sets out the position and there is no point in adding to or retracting from it. Ormond Quay was not a complex product. They borrowed short and invested long and the short-term borrowing was straight up, as it were.

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: No. The position is——

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: It is important to be clear that the Ormond Quay vehicle was an off balance sheet investment vehicle. It was a conduit of Sachsen LB, which is a German savings bank. That German savings bank, Sachsen LB, provided a guaranteed line of credit to Ormond Quay and some other conduits it had established in Dublin. Ormond Quay called on that line of credit as the prevailing market conditions were...

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: No one takes pleasure from any financial institution getting into difficulty. Lessons will be learned from the turbulence by finding out what caused the problem and what practices were allowed. We have already seen US Treasury Secretary Paulson commenting on what he felt were lax regulatory standards, the need to review the regime in the United States and how it operates in regional markets...

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: We have gone a long way from the amendment now.

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: I do not underestimate the Deputy's versatility.

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: That will keep him quiet.

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: We are not necessarily left holding the baby. These are commercial issues and, in many cases, the moral hazard must be considered in that context. The assumption that the State automatically comes in to cover everyone else's mistakes is not necessarily the case, although I take the point that the overall impact on market stability will always have to be considered depending on the scale and...

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: He is a former Secretary General of the Department of Health and Children and the Department of Finance. I have listened to others who hold similar views on this issue. In the context of having a discussion on any of these issues, we need to preface our remarks not simply by empty flag-waving, but by stating that we have a good financial system that is well capitalised, liquid and...

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: I move amendmentNo. 5: In page 7, subsection (1), line 4, to delete "38(4), 58(9), 59(8), 60(6), 61(3)," and substitute "58(9), 59(8), 60(6),". In the Bill as published, regulations 38(4) and 61(3) were included in the list in section 9 dealing with penalties for conviction on indictment of the Reinsurance Regulations 2006. The severe nature of the penalties for indictable offences in the...

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: Regulation 38(4) is for the failure of a special purpose reinsurance vehicle to comply with certain requirements. Regulation 61(3) refers to the failure of a reinsurance undertaking to comply with the solvency rules made by the bank. The Financial Regulator suggests they should be treated in that way.

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: On summary conviction rather than an indictable offence.

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: We have already discussed section 9 and I have explained the background to all of this. These are technical areas and from time to time we can all be at a disadvantage in some respects as regards these matters. I take the Deputy's point. The ambit and scope of this section indicates that this is the way to deal with these particular areas, as the Financial Regulator has suggested. We are...

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee Stage (17 Oct 2007)

Brian Cowen: Section 10 is essentially a technical amendment to update the Netting of Financial Contracts Act 1995 to provide for the extension of the protection afforded by that Act by expanding the range of financial contracts that may be encompassed. The Netting of Financial Contracts Act 1995 provides protection for netting or set-off arrangements between parties to contracts involving certain...