Depfa ACS fined €250k for suspected breach of rules

GERMAN-Irish bank, Depfa ACS has been fined €250,000 by the Financial Regulator over suspected breaches of rules pertaining to the Asset Covered Securities Act of 2001.

According to a statement published yesterday by the regulator, there was “reasonable cause” to suspect breaches occurred through the German-owned/ Dublin- headquartered bank failing, “on a number of occasions” to gain approval from either its cover-assets monitor or the regulator before amending entries in its register of public credit covered securities business.

Such approval is required under the 2001 Act. Furthermore, the Central Bank Act allows for the regulator to seek a financial settlement agreement with a party if it has suspicions “on reasonable grounds”.

The statement added, however, that Depfa itself notified the regulator on the issues and no investors suffered financial losses as a result. It also said “at all times” the cover assets pool remained in compliance with all other requirements of the 2001 Act.

The regulator also confirmed that Depfa “co-operated fully and was open and transparent” throughout the examination, adding “the matter is now closed”.

In the last two months, the regulator has handed out fines which when combined topped €3m. These include two Dublin-based insurance companies for breaking customer protection rules and a Dublin division of Merrill Lynch for failure to supervise trading activity.