Eumaeus (pronounced you-my-us) was the faithful servant of Ulysses
(aka Odysseus) in Homer’s Odyssey. After Ulysses left his palace in Ithaca to sack Troy and wander around the Mediterranean for about 20 years, Eumaeus kept an eye on the place when it was invaded by a gang of adventurers and impostors. He had four dogs, savage as wild beasts, who protected his pigs. He played no small part in helping Ulysses return home.
A previous Secretary of the Bank of England retold the story of Ulysses in a famous children’s book, but that is a coincidence.
The purpose of this project, also called Eumaeus, is to keep an eye on the palaces of the financial system, the independent and neutral organisations appointed to protect the public interest, such as The Bank of England, The Financial Conduct Authority, the Financial Reporting Council and the rest. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
The work of the project will include:
- Coverage of current financial events, particularly concerning the financial health of bank and insurance companies. This is the place to come in the event of a meltdown of the global financial system!
- Critiquing the work of the main prudential regulators of financial products, the Bank of England and the PRA, their models and methods, stress tests, money printing etc.
- Campaigning for regulatory reform, particularly around the Basel regulatory framework for banks, and the corresponding Solvency II framework for insurance companies
- Campaigning for accountancy reform, particularly around IFRS 17, the new standard for insurance reporting.
- Raising public awareness of the conflict of interest inherent in other guardians such as the large auditing and accounting firms, consulting actuaries, the Institute of Actuaries etc.
- Campaigning for banking reform, and for a limit to the free put granted to the financial industry by current financial regulation.
- Promotion of research on the subject of regulatory capital treatment and valuation.