Financial regulator selects new consumer director

The interim Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA) has chosen a Central Bank employee as its new consumer director.

Ms Mary O'Dea (39), will be charged with monitoring the provision of financial services to consumers and developing a system of consumer protection.

She will take a seat on the board of IFSRA, reporting directly to the authority's chief executive, Mr Liam O'Reilly.

Before her appointment, Ms O'Dea was head of the regulatory enforcement and development department at the Central Bank. She joined the bank in 1987, having previously held positions in Bord Fáilte and UCD.

Ms O'Dea was selected from a shortlist of seven candidates and was the only Central Bank employee to reach the final stage of the recruitment process.

It is expected that she will have authority over about 90 staff when IFSRA, which is due to be formally established before the summer, is fully operational.

About 30 of these will be recruited externally over the coming year, with the remainder to be drawn from existing resources within the Central Bank and the Office for the Director of Consumer Affairs.

Welcoming her appointment, Ms O'Dea said her job was to "improve the lot of the customers of financial services".

One of the director's first actions will be to introduce a user-friendly consumer code designed to highlight the "obligations" which financial services companies have towards their customers.

"We will also strive to further the interests of consumers by enabling them to make distinctions between good-value and bad-value financial products," Ms O'Dea said.

The Irish Bankers' Federation and the Irish Insurance Federation both said they looked forward to working with the new consumer director.

The Consumers' Association of Ireland was less enthusiastic however, questioning the ability of a Central Bank candidate to enforce a "change of culture" within consumer regulation.