Central bank calls for better corporate governance in Ireland

A senior official at Ireland's central bank has said the corporate governance standards of financial institutions must be improved.

Speaking at a banking conference in Dublin today (October 20th), Jonathan McMahon confirmed that a new governance code is due to be published next month.

Mr McMahon claimed Irish banks have not gone far enough in revising their executive remuneration strategies in the wake of the financial crisis, Reuters reports.

In terms of the required changes to corporate governance practices, he said "the degree of improvement varies between institutions".

The central bank's assistant director general of financial institutions supervision also suggested the need for a fresh approach to executive recruitment from the nation's banks.

"There are individuals who have sought to learn from the crisis and whose experience will make them valuable members of banks' boards," Mr McMahon explained.

Last month, the Irish Stock Exchange confirmed that all listed companies will be required to comply or explain in relation to the new UK Corporate Governance Code, which was published in May.