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Independence of Sunday titles at risk Laura Slatteiy, back page

Ireland may have 'over-corrected' on regulation SIMON CARSWELL Washington Correspondent

Ireland may have over-correct­ed how it regulates banks and financial services firms and should be "very careful" with further regulations to avoid losing business overseas, one of five commissioners at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the country's markets regulator, has warned.

Daniel Gallagher, one of two Republican commission­ers at the SEC, said regulatory change has been "pretty in­tense" over the last three years in response to the finan­cial crisis and that these should be reviewed before fur­ther regulations are intro­duced. •

"At some point it's got to stop and people need to evalu­ate what is the impact globally and domestically; I think Ire­land has hit that point," he said.

Speaking in Washington ahead of his arrival in Ireland today to speak at a European corporate govemance confer­ence, Mr Gallagher said the cri­sis meant it was "appropriate" to overhaul regulation but that over-regulation had to be avoided.

Spectre " I do think you need to keep tabs on whether it is too much because you could really face the spectre of losing big chunks of an industry that is very important to Ireland," he said.

mer Taoiseach John Bruton, now ambassador for the IFSC, and AIB deputy chairman Mi­chael Somers who last week warned about the consequenc­es of regulation going too far.

Empathised Mr Gallagher said that he em­pathised with the departing fi­nancial regulator Matthew El-derfield who said last week that arguments for less regula­tion should be given "short shrift" if they were a "vaguely articulated concern" about burden.

"He was brought in at a tough time. There was a lot of

• Daniel Gallagher at the us SEC echoed comments made by John Bruton (left)

public outrage and he had to show toughness. I do think he understands the competitive issues," said the SEC commis­sioner of Mr Elderfield.

"At the same time my guess is that he doesn't want folks to forget the depths from which they came a few years ago and journey back there."

Mr Gallagher warned that if the UK opted out of new pan-European regulations of financial services it could "sti­fle" what made certain coun­tries like Ireland special.

"It would certainly be dis­ruptive if Ireland was subject­ed to EU-wide restrictions and

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^Right culture key to governance' by John Walsh

Business Correspondent

Irish companies need to de­velop the right culture if corporate governance is to work in any organisation, according to a major new survey.

One of the main features of the collapse of the Irish financial sector in 2008 was the complete lack of appro­priate corporate governance standards and risk manage­ment practices.

However, a new survey commissioned by . PwC, Arthur Cox and the Irish Stock Exchange found that nine out of 10 respondents found that culture was the most important factor in creating an environment that promoted sound corpo­rate governance practices.

The survey was released to coincide with a conference in Dublin today, which was organised by the Depart­

ment of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation as part of the Irish E U Presidency.

Eighty-seven per cent of respondents said that com­panies had to change their attitude to risk manage­ment. Instead of seeing it as obligation, it should be seen as having tangible business benefits. Moreover, compa­nies need to shift from ex­cessive risk avoidance to well controlled expansion of products and markets.

Over half the people sur­veyed said that mandatory quotas were not the best way of achieving diversity in the boardroom. There was a sizeable majority who be­lieved that the adoption ofa proper corporate gover­nance framework through­out the E U would stimulate competitiveness and growth. Opinion is evenly divided, however, on whether cor­porate governance legisla­tion should be introduced.

There was a large majority

Richard Bruton: (Must learn from regulatory failings.

in favour of much greater disclosure of company spe­cific information rather than "boilerplate" corporate gov­ernance reporting. There should be much greater transparency on director re­muneration with sharehold­ers having more of a say.

Speaking at the survey launch. Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said: "It is vital that we learn from past regulatory failings, so that at the E U and national levels we have a robust and fit for practice corporate governance regime."

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