INBS escapes after breaking law
The Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA) said INBS failed to comply with its legal requirements in preparing for its annual general meeting of members last year. But the regulator was powerless to do anything about it, because it was only granted powers to penalise legal breaches in August this year.
IFSRA began an investigation into INBS’s conduct of the AGM after receiving complaints from members. The investigation focused on the issue of proxy voting forms to members, which allowed those who could not attend the meeting to have their say on motions put to a vote. Proxy forms were issued to some INBS members without being requested in writing and had not been included in the notice of the AGM. This was against the law, the regulator said. The members who raised the complaint with IFSRA said the law was in place to prevent the society from issuing blank proxy forms without providing members with statements arguing for and against the motions under discussion. They claimed the blank proxies helped INBS chief executive Michael Fingleton defeat motions of no confidence that they had tabled.
