Ombudsman forces banks to pay compensation

THE Financial Ombudsman has forced a number of banks and building societies to pay out thousands of euros to settle disputes with customers.

The ombudsman, Joe Meade, yesterday published details of some of the largest disputes to come before his office between October and December last year.

In one of the biggest settlements, a building society was made to repay €29,000 to a couple who had a commercial mortgage account with the society but decided to change to another financial service provider.