Central Bank fines of €100,000-plus on the rise

The number of fines over €100,000 imposed on financial institutions by the Central Bank since the start of the financial crisis has increased sharply in the last three years.

According to figures provided in a written Dáil reply, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan confirmed that fines over €100,000 have been imposed on six separate financial institutions this year totalling €5.2m. The highest fine this year was the €3.5m recently imposed on Ulster Bank.

The figures show that only one fine of over €100,000 was imposed in the last three months of 2008 with a total of five fines over €100,000 imposed in 2009 and 2010.