THE FINANCIAL services watchdog, Bill Prasifka, has called for legal powers to name and shame unscrupulous financial firms which are the subject of adverse findings by his office.

Mr Prasifka, who was appointed Financial Services Ombudsman in February, said it was “not good enough” that legislation stopped him from naming these firms, saying that this was “inconsistent” with the objectives of his office.

“We are here to promote the integrity of the financial services industry in the eyes of the public,” he told an Insurance Institute of Ireland meeting in Dublin.

“It is difficult to understand how this can be achieved if our public profile can be characterised as the publicising of industry wrongdoing while simultaneously shielding the wrongdoers from public accountability.”

The role of the ombudsman was not to penalise wrongdoing, he said, that was for the Financial Regulator, but it should be able to name and shame firms, products sold or services provided, and the decision reached by the office where it is in the public interest.

“If certain firms are operating unscrupulously, why can’t the public at least know who they are? Why does the office in fact refuse to tell the public who they are?”

Mr Prasifka, a former head of the Aviation Regulator and the Competition Authority, said anonymous findings were “unlikely to be helpful to an aggrieved public.”

However, the office should not have to publish every finding against a firm in full as it would lead to “an unacceptable delay”.

The identity of complainants should also be protected and censored in final reports so as not to discourage them from lodging grievances with his office, he said.

The ombudsman should be “an early warning system” for failings in the financial system, he said.

Mr Prasifka warned firms that they could not frustrate his office making decisions quickly by failing to respond to its queries. The office was “very comfortable” going before the High Court to uphold any of its rulings against financial companies, he said.