Ireland's new banking regulator has announced a get-tough approach with big banks and finance houses.

Matthew Elderfield said he was seeking more resources and tougher laws for a special investigations unit at senior level in the Central Bank.

The former Bermuda banking chief, who has been appointed head of financial regulation in Ireland, said important banks can expect a more intrusive approach to probe risk-taking.

"You can't referee a Premier League match with one linesman and no red card in your pocket," he said.

Mr Elderfield said financial regulation would undergo a fundamental overhaul, but insisted it would be balanced and measured. He said it would be assertive and underpinned with a credible threat of enforcement but he also attempted to allay concerns in the sector, insisting he is not a "shoot first, ask questions later" regulator.

He went on: "High impact firms and those with a poor track record should not expect to receive the benefit of the doubt from me or my staff when the best approach to addressing a risk is a point of contention between us.

"We will have an open and engaged dialogue with a firm's senior management. But if we remain unconvinced by management's plans we will be prepared to substitute our prudential judgment for their commercial one and say: Just do it."

He added: "Both financial firms and those that lead them need to be held much more accountable for their actions than has happened in the past, and be subject to tougher sanctions."

Mr Elderfield announced his plans in an address to the Leinster Society of Chartered Accountants in Dublin, his first public speech since taking the lead regulation role.

The Government is awaiting reports on the collapse of the financial sector from Central Bank Governor Patrick Honohan and former International Monetary Fund (IMF) deputy director Max Watson and German economist Klaus Regling on the regulatory and banking aspects of the crisis. An inquiry will follow later in the year.