Bank of Ireland has been fined over €100 million by the Central Bank due to its poor handling of their tracker mortgage customers.
This follows similar fines issued to AIB and its lending provider ESB earlier this summer. The €100.5 million fine is the largest one granted by the Central Bank in its history.
The Central Bank confirmed the fine in a statement on their website. Their review also concluded that refusing customers mortgage tracker rates had less to the loss of around 50 properties, 25 of which were family homes.
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Central Bank’s Director of Enforcement Seana Cunningham said: “Our investigation exposed a culture in Bank of Ireland which, when faced with a choice, prioritised its own interests with little to no regard for the impacts on its customers. There were a series of missed opportunities during which Bank of Ireland could have done the right thing by its tracker mortgage customers.”
The scandal, which unfolded between 2004 to June 2022, affected up to 16,000 customers nationwide. Customers were entitled to tracker rates on their mortgage, yet they were denied them from Bank of Ireland at the height of the financial crisis.
The Central Bank also found that Bank of Ireland’s attempts to provide compensation following the breach were insufficient. Bank of Ireland admitted in full to 81 individual regulatory breaches under the investigation.
The initial fine was set at €143.6 million, but regulators agreed to reduce the figure by 30 % in line with a settlement discount scheme.
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