It is high time we had a proper State champion for the public to replace lapdog Central Bank

WE have a plethora of consumer watchdogs in this country. But most of them are lapdogs that are failing to properly protect consumers from being gouged by banks and other finance firms.

The most disappointing of these is the Central Bank, which has patently failed in its consumer protection role.

So much of its attention is on prudential supervision, or ensuring banks and financial services firms are no longer at risk of going under, that its job of looking out for the little guys gets short shrift.

The result is scandal after scandal, rip-offs and over-charging.

After the financial collapse, we were promised intrusive regulation with consumer protection at the heart of this. Instead, consumers have continued to get shafted.

The tracker scandal is just the latest in a long litany of failures by the Central Bank.

First exposed in this publication in 2009, it took until 2015 for the regulators to realise there was an issue. Even then it allowed the banks to dictate the terms, only latterly standing up to them.

The Central Bank has also been seen by consumers to have failed to stand up for them when it comes to variable mortgage rates.

We have the highest variable rates in the Eurozone, something that it took work by this publication and consumer advocate Brendan Burgess a long time to expose.

And drivers feel let down by the conduct of insurers in passing on the cost of their mismanagement to motorists.

Banks have been allowed to refuse to engage with the State’s Insolvency Service, something that has contributed to the chronic mortgage arrears issue.

No wonder a report launched by Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe is highly critical of the Central Bank and the other state agencies tasked with protecting consumers.

The Fine Gael-supported thinktank, the Collins Institute, argues the role of regulation appears to have been dominated by the demands of the financial services industry rather than the needs of the consumer.

Mr Donohoe refrained from hitting out at the Central Bank, but the act of him launching the report speaks volumes.

And remember, his frustrations with the Central Bank on the tracker issue prompted him to drag the bankers into his offices for a dressing down, and to order the Central Bank to conduct a report into the culture in the banks.

It is clear now, even if Mr Donohoe does not say it, that the time has long passed for the Central Bank to be stripped of its consumer protection role. So too should the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC).

A new, standalone body should be formed with a sole mandate of championing consumers. It will have to co-operate heavily with the Central Bank, the CCPC and other State watchdogs, and its role will need to be carefully thought out.

But a powerful new body, with a dedicated role, is the only way to even the playing field for consumers.