European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly has found that the European Banking Authority (EBA) should not have allowed its former Executive Director to become CEO of a financial lobby association. The Ombudsman also found the EBA did not immediately put in place sufficient internal safeguards to protect its confidential information when the planned move became clear.

The two findings of maladministration followed an inquiry - based on a complaint - into the EBA’s decision to allow its former Executive Director to become CEO of the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME).

“The EBA was created from the ashes of the 2008 financial crash – a crisis, in part, defined by regulatory failure and so-called ‘regulatory capture’ by the financial industry. In allowing its former Executive Director to join a major financial lobby association, the EBA risked perpetuating one of the core regulatory problems it