Seventh regulator withdraws from Central Bank

Andy Coulson, head of investment firms and funds supervision, has tendered his resignation and will leave the Central Bank in three months’ time.

Mr Coulson is understood to have played a critical part in the roll-out of PRISM, the system for spotting regulatory breaches before they blow up.

Staff in the Central Bank were told he played a key role in the management team during a period of intense change.

It is understood Mr Coulson is to take up a new role at Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority.

This latest departure comes just days after Fiona Muldoon became the sixth senior regulator hired to shore up the banking system to announce she was leaving Dame Street.

Ms Muldoon, who is head of banking supervision, is to leave the regulator’s offices in May.

Mr Coulson’s departure brings to seven the number of top regulators to announce their departure in the past year-and-a-half.

Deputy Governor Matthew Elderfield terminated his contract early and now works for Lloyds Banking Group.

Chief economist Lars Frisell, who joined from the Swedish regulatory authority, is set to leave in March to join the IMF.

The bank has also suffered from the departures of Mr Elderfield’s deputy Jonathan McMahon, head of enforcement Peter Oakes and credit union registrar James O’Brien.

They were all hired to help restore the regulatory regime after the €64bn collapse of the domestic banking system when the property market crashed.

Central Bank Governor Patrick Honohan was forced to deny last week that the departure of so many senior executives pointed to a crisis of confidence in the organisation.

He said: “We have strength in depth here. A lot of people have come in and naturally some will stay longer than others.

“We have made a lot of appointments and I don’t like to see people going, but people will move on.

“I am not worried about our capacity to carry out our mandate,” he added. Source: The Irish Independent