Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

TJN has commented a new report from ALTER-EU that addresses a wide range of concerns relating to the way Expert Groups dominated by large private banks, insurance giants and a range of financial enterprises wield significant power within the EU legislative process - from the drafting of EU strategies and laws to their implementation.

Paul de Clerck member of ALTER-EU's steering committee, said: "The Commission only seems to be interested in listening to the advice of the finance industry, rather than acting in the interests of society. Light touch regulation may have made it easier to do business, but it has not protected our savings and our pensions from being gambled away. Now the Commission tells us they are tightening the rules but in reality their proposals still leave many loopholes. If the Commission wants to restore confidence in our financial systems, it must break free of this stranglehold of partial advice."

I agree with him. What happened with Madoff in the European jurisdiction is the result of poor controls and will at the European level (see my Fault Tree Analysis).