AIB tracker mortgage scandal

2022 - 6 - 23

Post cover — Image courtesy of "Financial Times"

Ireland's AIB fined record €96.7mn over tracker mortgage scandal (Financial Times)

Country's second-biggest lender failed to give customers access to cheap interest rates.

Update: AIB fined €83.3m for role in the tracker mortgage scandal (Irish Examiner)

EBS, owned by AIB, was fined €13.4m for consumer protection breaches during the tracker mortgage scandal. Their combined fine brings the total sum to a ...

In May 2019, the Central Bank followed this up with a then-record fine of €21m for PTSB itself for its part in the industry-wide tracker mortgage probe. In September last year, the Central Bank fined KBC Bank Ireland €18.3m and a scathing reprimand. The first of the tracker mortgage fines imposed by the Central Bank was for €4.5m in late 2016 for Springboard Mortgages, a former subprime mortgage lender set up during the boom years by Permanent TSB but which it subsequently sold to a vulture fund.

AIB Group fined record €96.7m for role in tracker mortgage scandal (The Irish Times)

AIB and its EBS unit have been hit with a record €96.7 million Central Bank fine for their roles in the State's tracker mortgage scandal, which resulted in ...

The bank was also found to have failed to employ adequate resources, policies and controls or to handle customer complaints in a fair and consistent manner. The Central Bank investigation found that AIB “wrongly excluded” groups of customers from compensation for two years, before it finally capitulated in December 2017. The Central Bank said that AIB and EBS’s misdeeds warranted a €138 million sanction, before applying a standard 30 per cent discount to cases that are settled. More than 41,000 borrowers were affected by the industry-wide tracker debacle going back to 2008. Ms Cunningham said that AIB had opportunities to address those failings over the years but failed to do so. “Our investigation found that when AIB withdrew its tracker mortgage offering [in 2008], there was no proper regard or concern for the impact on its customers,” said Seána Cunningham, the Central Bank’s director of enforcement.

AIB Hit With Record Irish Fine Over Mortgages Scandal (Bloomberg)

The Irish central bank issued AIB Group Plc a record 96.7 million euro ($101.7 million) fine for its role in a mortgage overcharging scandal that has ...

AIB admitted to 57 separate regulatory breaches, it added. The central bank fined and reprimanded AIB 83.3 million euros for “a series of significant and long-running failings” in the treatment of its tracker mortgage customers holding 10,015 mortgage accounts between August 2004 and March 2022, the central bank said in a statement. The Irish central bank issued AIB Group Plc a record 96.7 million euro ($101.7 million) fine for its role in a mortgage overcharging scandal that has engulfed Ireland’s banking sector.

AIB handed €83m fine over tracker mortgage scandal (BreakingNews.ie)

The Central Bank said the fines bring the total sanctions imposed on lenders for tracker mortgage failings to €174 million.

She added: “Underpinning AIB’s failings over a prolonged period of time was a culture of failing to properly consider and recognise the rights of its customers and its obligations to them.” The banking group apologised for the distress and financial losses suffered by customers and described the matter as a “very large stain on the reputation of the bank”. The Central Bank’s director of enforcement and anti-money laundering, Seana Cunningham, said the fines had been imposed “in respect of serious and long-running failings in meeting its obligations to its tracker mortgage customers”.

AIB and EBS hit with fines totalling almost €100 million over tracker ... (thejournal.ie)

THE CENTRAL BANK has fined AIB and EBS almost €100 million for the role of the two banks in the tracker mortgage scandal. The fines follow an enforcement ...

EBS withdrew its tracker mortgage products in 2008, at which time EBS took no steps to assess the financial, contractual and regulatory implications of this for its existing tracker mortgage customers. “AIB’s failings caused unacceptable harm and loss to those impacted customers over the course of nearly 18 years. Our investigation found that the cumulative effect of the failure to assess the impact of the withdrawal of tracker mortgage products and the existing deficiencies in the provision of mortgage services resulted in significant harm for EBS’s customers. Cunningham said that EBS had “serious deficiencies” in their mortgage services and systems, despite mortgage lending being the core of the bank’s services. “The fine imposed today reflects the gravity of the failings identified by the Central Bank’s investigation and the impact of these failings on AIB’s customers.” Seána Cunningham, the Central Bank’s Director of Enforcement and Anti-Money Laundering, said that the fine was in respect of the “serious and long-running” failings in meeting its obligations to tracker mortgage customers.

Tracker mortgage blame lies with the banks, financial watchdog ... (Independent.ie)

The Central Bank has said all blame for the tracker scandal lies with the lenders. It comes after AIB Group was fined a record €96.7m for duping almost ...

The tracker issue has so far cost AIB Group €730m in refunds and compensation, legal fees, administrative expenses and fines. Around 41,000 mortgage accounts have been affected by the tracker scandal. “The fine reflects family suffering. AIB’s tracker loss cases date from 2004, with the last only cleaned up last March. But she said no external, independent review has been commissioned by the Central Bank into how long it has taken to sanction the offenders, despite the regulator being aware of AIB Group’s mistreatment of tracker mortgage holders for eight years. The Central Bank has said all blame for the tracker scandal lies with the lenders.