Great craic for the insurers

A while ago we referred to the Irish Republic as "Bermuda with better food." Recent events provide the excuse the revive and reinforce this description. We refer in particular to news stories that have so far resided in the business sections of the paper -- therefore causing eyes to glaze over -- but which function as commentaries on some of the less savoury activities in the new Ireland.

Giant American insurer AIG headed by Maurice Greenberg is being investigated for dodgy deals with fellow giant insurer General Re headed by Warren Buffett. The deals were designed to make AIG's balance sheet look better than it really was. One deal was run out of General Re's Dublin office and was managed by an executive there who was a refugee from a huge insurance scandal in Australia.

When the Irish "miracle" is being discussed, analysts like to point to the Republic's supply side type policies, but the uncomfortable truth is that for some sectors, the prospect of lax regulation while being within the European Union umbrella is very attractive. Sure, you could set up your financial garbage disposal unit in the Caymans, but that causes raised eyebrows amongst global regulators these days. How much easier to put it in Dublin, get the tax breaks, and run rings around the Irish regulators who can't even supervise the local retail banks properly, let alone large corporations with basically limitless access to clever accountants and lawyers?

And so we have details like this from today's Wall Street Journal (subs. req'd):

John Houldsworth [Australian exec.] retains his title of chief underwriter for General Re's finite insurance products in Dublin, although in the past couple of months he has been focused on helping the company research potentially troublesome transactions amid the continuing probe of the insurance industry, people close to the matter say.

This delicate phrasing has funny echoes of the Garda Siochana's preferred usage when they know who did it but haven't assembled all the evidence yet: "helping police with their inquiries."

And what would a scandal be without a corporate euphemism or two:

Meanwhile, Mr. Houldsworth continues to work in General Re's Alternative Solutions Group in Dublin. He helped work out the exact terms of the AIG transaction, according to a person close to the investigation.

.. a name which reminds us of that notorious South African Coups'R'Us outfit Executive Outcomes. What's missing so far is a corporate name or euphemism that manages to mingle Celtic mysticism with financial skullduggery, but we're confident that's out there somewhere.