6 ms·

EU ombudsman: regulator should have stopped director from joining lobby group

117 points by hhs 7y ago

catalogia 7y ago
I hate headlines like this, where every part is a mystery that leaves you wondering what the story is even about: > Watchdog Who? European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly. > slams EU agency Which? The European Banking Authority. > for letting boss Who? Adam Farkas. > join lobby group Which? Association for Financial Markets in Europe.
- gadders 7y ago
  "slams" is a particular tabloid word as well. I don't think ever seen it used outside of a headline.
  - wccrawford 7y ago
    I've heard teenagers use it when gossiping. Though that's been a while now.
  - Pfhreak 7y ago
    Seems like it's primarily used for weather events, e.g. Hurricane X slams into Florida. It's also pretty widely used in politics coverage across many news sites. I did a quick search of WaPo, NYT, BBC, etc. and they all had a few headlines that used it like this.
  - Angostura 7y ago
    It's a tabloid word but it's chosen primarly for being short. See also the the old Variety headline about rural movie-goers avoiding films set in rural communities: 'Hicks Nix Sticks Flicks' It's a throwback to when subs had to get punchy compact headlines on paper and didn't have to worry about SEO
    - gadders 7y ago
      "Book Lack in Ongar" is my favourite. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jan/26/books.guardianreview5 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jan/26/books.guardian...
      - Angostura 7y ago
        May favourite was the one that never got used. For years sub-editors hoped that former Labour leader Michael Foot would be put in charge of the organisation overseeing the decommissioning of weapons in Northern Ireland. ... just so thy could write: Foot Heads Arms Body Sadly, it never came to pass.
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  I've suggested "EU Ombudsman criticises banking regulator executive director joining AFME lobby". (Original is "Watchdog slams EU agency for letting boss join lobby group".)
- dang 7y ago
  I've taken a crack at adjusting the headline to use language from the article's opening paragraph. However, you're still only getting 1 of your 4. Have an ombudsman, at least. If there were a way to squeeze banks in there, that'd be good too, but the 80 char limit stymied me. Generally we take individuals' names out of titles rather than add them in, and adding "AFME" would be adding noise since few readers will have heard of it. In any case, it doesn't seem to matter as much which lobby group the director joined or which director it was who joined a lobby group.
PeterStuer 7y ago
Once again the famous EU revolving door takes a spin. Captured regulator 101.
- toyg 7y ago
  It’s no different from the Fundamentally Supine Authority and the rest of UK regulators...
- nelaboras 7y ago
  it's a story because in the EU it's rather unusual. there were a few high profile cases but to say this is the norm is not really right...
  - dogma1138 7y ago
    Working directly with ESMA for several years now it’s really not unusual. Their entire workforce comes from the financial industry.
  - atmosx 7y ago
    LOL, there's nothing unusual. The only unusual thing is the ombudsman taking note.
- thefounder 7y ago
  Isn't it the same pretty much everywhere? E.g UK, US, even in China? Companies hiring "ex" government figures for lobbying? You try to imply that EU is kinda root of all evil. >> A top official has been poached by Facebook from the UK’s media watchdog, the Office of Communications (Ofcom). https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/uk-media-watchdog-director-joins-facebook/ https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/uk-media-watch... >> Warren Singles Out U.S. Officials for Moving to C-Suite Jobs https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-29/warren-promises-hiring-restrictions-fines-for-u-s-corporations https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-29/warren-pr...
  - Wohlf 7y ago
    Not my personal opinion, but the answer I often see in response to this is where else are they supposed to go with their skillset?
angel_j 7y ago
They followed up the SLAM with a SUPLEX off the TOP ROPE.
prepperpotts 7y ago
one interesting, counterintuitive argument i've seen on how to prevent this is in lawrence lessig's book, "republic, lost" about the us congress. his take is that public servants actually don't make enough money, when compared to their peers in the public sector, and that an important step to preventing regulatory capture is to pay them better. that way, people don't spend their careers in public service trying to avoid pissing off lobbyists they're hoping to work for later. not sure if it'd work or not, or if making moves like this illegal is better, but it's definitely an interesting idea.
- FeistyOtter 7y ago
  Campaign cost to run for Congress has been skyrocketing for years. And the cost of living in DC is very high, especially for such public figures who are expected to host all kinds of gatherings. It is a wonder that between all these fundraisers they have time and will at all to do policymaking.
  - afiori 7y ago
    In Italy it is illegal for political parties to accept donations[1] and within bounds political parties are reimbursed for their campaign spending (or are dependent on own income) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mani_pulite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mani_pulite
- linuxftw 7y ago
  Doesn't stop the problem from flowing the other direction. Often, ex-executives of major firms are now the heads of the regulatory agencies. Do these heads own lots of shares and have obvious conflicts of interest with their 'former' firms? Of course, if your significant other is on the board, well, nothing much the law can say about that either. The real problem is far too much authority was vested (taken?) by the federal congress. Smaller government is the key to keeping the government in check.
  - cure 7y ago
    > The real problem is far too much authority was vested (taken?) by the federal congress. Smaller government is the key to keeping the government in check. That feels like a bit of a non sequitor. Can you elaborate? Genuinely curious.
dirtydroog 7y ago
> The ombudsman presented two findings of maladministration by the EBA. The first is the regulator should have “forbidden the job move.” I'm not sure how legally enforceable that would be. I wonder if the Bosman ruling would make that move unlawful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosman_ruling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosman_ruling
- solidsnack9000 7y ago
  I wondered about this as well. How could they (non-extra-legally) forbid the job move?
Proven 7y ago
The whole edifice is corrupt and has wasted and redistributed hundreds of billions, but the issue we should care about is one guy joining a shitty lobby group. All right, let's watch this closely... not
acd 7y ago
It could be corruption.

117 points by hhs 7y ago

I hate headlines like this, where every part is a mystery that leaves you wondering what the story is even about: > Watchdog Who? European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly. > slams EU agency Which? The European Banking Authority. > for letting boss Who? Adam Farkas. > join lobby group Which? Association for Financial Markets in Europe.

gadders 7y ago
"slams" is a particular tabloid word as well. I don't think ever seen it used outside of a headline.
- wccrawford 7y ago
  I've heard teenagers use it when gossiping. Though that's been a while now.
- Pfhreak 7y ago
  Seems like it's primarily used for weather events, e.g. Hurricane X slams into Florida. It's also pretty widely used in politics coverage across many news sites. I did a quick search of WaPo, NYT, BBC, etc. and they all had a few headlines that used it like this.
- Angostura 7y ago
  It's a tabloid word but it's chosen primarly for being short. See also the the old Variety headline about rural movie-goers avoiding films set in rural communities: 'Hicks Nix Sticks Flicks' It's a throwback to when subs had to get punchy compact headlines on paper and didn't have to worry about SEO
  - gadders 7y ago
    "Book Lack in Ongar" is my favourite. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jan/26/books.guardianreview5 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jan/26/books.guardian...
    - Angostura 7y ago
      May favourite was the one that never got used. For years sub-editors hoped that former Labour leader Michael Foot would be put in charge of the organisation overseeing the decommissioning of weapons in Northern Ireland. ... just so thy could write: Foot Heads Arms Body Sadly, it never came to pass.
dredmorbius 7y ago
I've suggested "EU Ombudsman criticises banking regulator executive director joining AFME lobby". (Original is "Watchdog slams EU agency for letting boss join lobby group".)
dang 7y ago
I've taken a crack at adjusting the headline to use language from the article's opening paragraph. However, you're still only getting 1 of your 4. Have an ombudsman, at least. If there were a way to squeeze banks in there, that'd be good too, but the 80 char limit stymied me. Generally we take individuals' names out of titles rather than add them in, and adding "AFME" would be adding noise since few readers will have heard of it. In any case, it doesn't seem to matter as much which lobby group the director joined or which director it was who joined a lobby group.

PeterStuer 7y ago

Once again the famous EU revolving door takes a spin. Captured regulator 101.

toyg 7y ago
It’s no different from the Fundamentally Supine Authority and the rest of UK regulators...
nelaboras 7y ago
it's a story because in the EU it's rather unusual. there were a few high profile cases but to say this is the norm is not really right...
- dogma1138 7y ago
  Working directly with ESMA for several years now it’s really not unusual. Their entire workforce comes from the financial industry.
- atmosx 7y ago
  LOL, there's nothing unusual. The only unusual thing is the ombudsman taking note.
thefounder 7y ago
Isn't it the same pretty much everywhere? E.g UK, US, even in China? Companies hiring "ex" government figures for lobbying? You try to imply that EU is kinda root of all evil. >> A top official has been poached by Facebook from the UK’s media watchdog, the Office of Communications (Ofcom). https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/uk-media-watchdog-director-joins-facebook/ https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/uk-media-watch... >> Warren Singles Out U.S. Officials for Moving to C-Suite Jobs https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-29/warren-promises-hiring-restrictions-fines-for-u-s-corporations https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-29/warren-pr...
- Wohlf 7y ago
  Not my personal opinion, but the answer I often see in response to this is where else are they supposed to go with their skillset?

angel_j 7y ago

They followed up the SLAM with a SUPLEX off the TOP ROPE.

prepperpotts 7y ago

one interesting, counterintuitive argument i've seen on how to prevent this is in lawrence lessig's book, "republic, lost" about the us congress. his take is that public servants actually don't make enough money, when compared to their peers in the public sector, and that an important step to preventing regulatory capture is to pay them better. that way, people don't spend their careers in public service trying to avoid pissing off lobbyists they're hoping to work for later. not sure if it'd work or not, or if making moves like this illegal is better, but it's definitely an interesting idea.

FeistyOtter 7y ago
Campaign cost to run for Congress has been skyrocketing for years. And the cost of living in DC is very high, especially for such public figures who are expected to host all kinds of gatherings. It is a wonder that between all these fundraisers they have time and will at all to do policymaking.
- afiori 7y ago
  In Italy it is illegal for political parties to accept donations[1] and within bounds political parties are reimbursed for their campaign spending (or are dependent on own income) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mani_pulite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mani_pulite
linuxftw 7y ago
Doesn't stop the problem from flowing the other direction. Often, ex-executives of major firms are now the heads of the regulatory agencies. Do these heads own lots of shares and have obvious conflicts of interest with their 'former' firms? Of course, if your significant other is on the board, well, nothing much the law can say about that either. The real problem is far too much authority was vested (taken?) by the federal congress. Smaller government is the key to keeping the government in check.
- cure 7y ago
  > The real problem is far too much authority was vested (taken?) by the federal congress. Smaller government is the key to keeping the government in check. That feels like a bit of a non sequitor. Can you elaborate? Genuinely curious.

dirtydroog 7y ago

> The ombudsman presented two findings of maladministration by the EBA. The first is the regulator should have “forbidden the job move.” I'm not sure how legally enforceable that would be. I wonder if the Bosman ruling would make that move unlawful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosman_ruling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosman_ruling

solidsnack9000 7y ago
I wondered about this as well. How could they (non-extra-legally) forbid the job move?

Proven 7y ago

The whole edifice is corrupt and has wasted and redistributed hundreds of billions, but the issue we should care about is one guy joining a shitty lobby group. All right, let's watch this closely... not

acd 7y ago

It could be corruption.