FG attempt Dáil delay of IFSRA bill in wake of AIB overcharging scandal

FINE GAEL are to table a motion in the Dáil today to have the financial services regulation legislation delayed in the wake of the AIB overcharging scandal.

The party’s finance spokesman Richard Bruton said there were new issues which needed to be discussed before the second stage of Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA) bill could be voted on.

He said yesterday that following the overcharging fiasco at AIB it would be “folly” to rush through the new legislation.

Mr Bruton said the AIB issue highlighted the lack of any sanctions for breaches of financial services regulation and the lack of “any systematic monitoring of these obligations by the regulators”.

“It would be sheer folly to rush ahead with the existing proposals following a very truncated debate in the Dáil. We must ensure this legislation will put in place best practice in relation to consumer protection,” he said.

Last week IFSRA chief executive Liam O’Reilly said the legislation would beef up its powers and allow it to impose fines on any institution that breaches the regulation.

However, he said these could not be applied retrospectively, meaning AIB would not face any penalties for overcharging foreign exchange customers over an eight-year period by E25 million.

IFSRA officials will appear before the Dáil finance committee tomorrow to answer questions on how the overcharging went unnoticed for so long.

The committee, chaired by Fianna Fáil’s Sean Fleming, is also expected to call senior AIB management.

The bank has apologised for the error and said it is in the process of identifying the customers affected.

Last week IFSRA said it had identified around two-thirds of the customers who were overcharged.

They will not, however, get their money back until August. AIB has appointed its own external investigator to find out how the error occurred and how it went unnoticed for so long.