AIB tracker mortgage regulatory breaches continued until March 2022

Regulatory breaches that happened this year 'were not significant matters', Central Bank said

The record fine for AIB came to €83.3m, while EBS, owned by AIB, was fined €13.4m for consumer protection breaches during the tracker mortgage scandal. File picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Tracker mortgage regulatory breaches by AIB occurred up to March 2022, the Central Bank said.

Director general of financial conduct at the Central Bank of Ireland Derville Rowland said these regulatory breaches that happened this year “were not significant matters in this case”. 

Ms Rowland also said 21 family homes in total were lost due to AIB’s and EBS’s contribution to the tracker mortgage scandal — 13 of these homeowners had accounts with AIB and eight had accounts with EBS.

The comments were made while the regulator briefed reporters about the fine it handed to AIB for its involvement in the tracker mortgage scandal.

AIB declined to comment further on what the most recent regulatory breaches have been in relation to the tracker mortgages. They also declined to say if there has been an official internal inquiry carried out by AIB to make sure this conduct doesn’t happen again.

“We are deeply sorry for the distress and the financial losses caused by the tracker mortgage issue. I have said in the past, and I re-iterate today, this matter represents a very large stain on the reputation of the bank,” AIB group chief executive Colin Hunt said after the fine was issued.

The record fine for AIB came to €83.3m, while EBS, owned by AIB, was fined €13.4m for consumer protection breaches during the tracker mortgage scandal. This is the largest fine that has been issued by the Central Bank during its investigation into the tracker mortgage scandal.

The combined fine brings the total sum to €96.7m. For the purposes of the fine, AIB has excluded EBS from its turnover.

The bank was handed the fine for a series of significant and long-running failings in the treatment of its tracker mortgage customers holding 10,015 mortgage accounts between August 2004 and March 2022. AIB has admitted to 57 separate regulatory breaches.

The Central Bank determined the appropriate fine to be €119m, which was reduced by 30% to €83.3m in accordance with the settlement discount scheme provided for by the Central Bank.

The fine is separate from the more than €125m that AIB has been required to pay to date in redress, compensation and account balance adjustments to impacted customers, including as part of the Central Bank’s Tracker Mortgage Examination.