4 ms·

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?
  - dogma1138 7y ago
    No where, regardless if you think they are talented or not, clearly they are even if people don’t value that specific skill set they. They have a unique experience that can’t be gained elsewhere, you can’t regulate an industry you don’t understand and you can’t understand the financial industry without working in it. So people move back and forth between legislators/regulators and compliance/lobbying. The only solution is to pay them more but not only it’s not possible it’s also not going to solve anything sometimes people just get bored and want to switch roles. Cooldown periods might help but only a bit as you can’t generally prevent people from gaining employment and if you refuse to hire anyone who has had recent job experience in the financial industry your regulation would be ineffective.
    - munk-a 7y ago
      I'm not certain what the precise solution is but what we have now isn't working. Remember that Standard Oil was broken up as a monopoly back in the day - the fact that it grew so large before action was taken isn't great but even once it had nearly unlimited lobbying strength the US still overcame it and managed to break it up - same with Bell. Industry experts will be in the pool of potential regulators - but that regulatory position used to be stable and lucrative enough to be the final destination as opposed to a stepping stone where scratching a few backs by relaxing some regulations could land you a future cushy job.
    - PeterStuer 7y ago
      You can not outpay greed. Cooldown periods might have helped if it were not for the simple fact that many of the position offered to past officials are in fact very well compensated board:committee seats that require very little activity. The implicit assumption by both parties is this is for services rendered during office.
brnt 7y ago
What's nice about the EU there's 27 different parties and jurisdictions and home markets involved in regulation (note that the EU does not have regulatory powers, merely strong recommendations that nation states should implement at their earliest convenience which may very well be decades into the future). This creates a field in which it is much harder for a particular commercial party to get the upper hand.
- fennecfoxen 7y ago
  This creates a field in which 20 of the 27 jurisdictions have some entrenched interest which securely holds the upper hand in that particular jurisdiction, secure from competition, free to earn economic rents.

toyg 7y ago

It’s no different from the Fundamentally Supine Authority and the rest of UK regulators...

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?
- dogma1138 7y ago
  No where, regardless if you think they are talented or not, clearly they are even if people don’t value that specific skill set they. They have a unique experience that can’t be gained elsewhere, you can’t regulate an industry you don’t understand and you can’t understand the financial industry without working in it. So people move back and forth between legislators/regulators and compliance/lobbying. The only solution is to pay them more but not only it’s not possible it’s also not going to solve anything sometimes people just get bored and want to switch roles. Cooldown periods might help but only a bit as you can’t generally prevent people from gaining employment and if you refuse to hire anyone who has had recent job experience in the financial industry your regulation would be ineffective.
  - munk-a 7y ago
    I'm not certain what the precise solution is but what we have now isn't working. Remember that Standard Oil was broken up as a monopoly back in the day - the fact that it grew so large before action was taken isn't great but even once it had nearly unlimited lobbying strength the US still overcame it and managed to break it up - same with Bell. Industry experts will be in the pool of potential regulators - but that regulatory position used to be stable and lucrative enough to be the final destination as opposed to a stepping stone where scratching a few backs by relaxing some regulations could land you a future cushy job.
  - PeterStuer 7y ago
    You can not outpay greed. Cooldown periods might have helped if it were not for the simple fact that many of the position offered to past officials are in fact very well compensated board:committee seats that require very little activity. The implicit assumption by both parties is this is for services rendered during office.

brnt 7y ago

What's nice about the EU there's 27 different parties and jurisdictions and home markets involved in regulation (note that the EU does not have regulatory powers, merely strong recommendations that nation states should implement at their earliest convenience which may very well be decades into the future). This creates a field in which it is much harder for a particular commercial party to get the upper hand.

fennecfoxen 7y ago
This creates a field in which 20 of the 27 jurisdictions have some entrenched interest which securely holds the upper hand in that particular jurisdiction, secure from competition, free to earn economic rents.