Jonathan McMahon

New Assistant Director General, Central Bank

Appointment Date: 12.01.2010

Company: Central Bank

 

The Central Bank has appointed Jonathan McMahon as its new Assistant Director General (ADG) for Financial Institutions Supervision in a move it said will help to create a new risk-based approach to Irish bank regulation.

McMahon’s responsibilities in the Central Bank will include oversight of the supervision of banks and insurance companies. The new Registrar of Credit Unions, when appointed, will also report into McMahon’s division.

McMahon joins the Central Bank from Promontory Financial Group, where he is currently a Director and based in London.

Promontory is an international consulting firm, comprised of former senior regulators, that has extensive experience of complex and high-profile financial and regulatory matters, including the investigation, in 2002, of trading losses at Allfirst in the United States, which was then a subsidiary of AIB.

At Promontory, McMahon has focused on banking and risk management matters and has worked closely with both banks and public sector bodies globally during the financial crisis.  He led Promontory’s work with the UK’s National Audit Office on its reviews of the UK government’s actions during the financial crisis.

Before joining Promontory in 2007, Mr. McMahon worked at Deloitte and Touche and the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA).  He undertook some roles for the FSA, including serving as Private Secretary to its chairmen, Sir Howard Davies and Sir Callum McCarthy.  He started his career as a bank supervisor.  Towards the end of his seven years at the FSA, he led supervision and research teams and was actively involved in the reform of the regulatory regime for retail intermediaries in the UK.

McMahon graduated from St. Andrews University in Scotland in 1998 with a first-class honors degree.  He also holds a Masters degree from the College of William and Mary in Virginia.

“The appointment of Jonathan to the Central Bank is a major step in creating the new regulatory structure,” said the new Head of Financial Regulation at the Central Bank, Matthew Elderfield, who took up his post on 4 January.

“His experience will allow the organization to develop a new risk-based supervisory approach for our core financial institutions.”

In addition to the McMahon’s appointment, the Central Bank has also recently advertised to fill three other ADG positions for Enforcement, Market Supervision and Policy & Risk.

Elderfield has also announced that an ADG for Consumer Protection is also to be appointed. This post will be advertised shortly.