
EU ombudsman: regulator should have stopped director from joining lobby group - hhs
https://www.politico.eu/article/ombudsman-eba-shouldve-blocked-executive-farkas-move-to-banking-group/
======
PeterStuer
Once again the famous EU revolving door takes a spin. Captured regulator 101.

~~~
thefounder
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-
watch...](https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/uk-media-watchdog-
director-joins-facebook/)

>> Warren Singles Out U.S. Officials for Moving to C-Suite Jobs

[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-29/warren-
pr...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-29/warren-promises-
hiring-restrictions-fines-for-u-s-corporations)

~~~
Wohlf
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
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.

~~~
PeterStuer
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.

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dirtydroog
> 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
I wondered about this as well. How could they (non-extra-legally) forbid the
job move?

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prepperpotts
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.

~~~
linuxftw
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
> 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.

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acd
It could be corruption.

------
catalogia
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
"slams" is a particular tabloid word as well. I don't think ever seen it used
outside of a headline.

~~~
Angostura
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
"Book Lack in Ongar" is my favourite.

[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jan/26/books.guardian...](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jan/26/books.guardianreview5)

~~~
Angostura
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.

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

