Former PTSB boss denies changing interpretation of tracker policy

David Guinane said email proposing bank allow customers who 'actually contact' them 'to revert to their original tracker' was understood by him to mean 'any customer'

Former Permanent TSB chief executive David Guinane said he did not recall the events in early 2009 that led to the bank's initial tracker mortgage policy. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins 

Former PTSB chief executive David Guinane has denied changing his interpretation of the bank's initial response to the tracker mortgage issue in the years after it took place, saying he does “not remember what happened in 2009".

The Central Bank inquiry is looking into Mr Guinane’s role in PTSB’s tracker mortgage scandal between January 2009 and April 2010.

One of the main aspects of the inquiry is an email sent to Mr Guinane by the bank’s former marketing manager Niall O’Grady on Friday, January 16, 2009, which proposed the bank allow customers who “actually contact” them “to revert to their original tracker” after they came off their fixed rate. 

On Monday, January 19, 2009, Mr Guinane responded with “okay with that”.

When questioned on this by Ailbhe O’Neill SC, acting for enforcement with the Central Bank, Mr Guinane said he understood this email to mean “any customer” coming out of the fixed rate would “go back to their original rate”.

“That's actually what I agreed to. That was not the decision that was taken forward by the bank and was implemented,” he said.

However, Ms O’Neill pointed to a correspondence written by Mr Guinane’s legal representatives in which they suggested if Mr Guinane needed to have “formulated his own counter proposal” to ensure all customers go back on their original tracker in order to avoid this inquiry.

Ms O’Neill said this was “entirely inconsistent” with his position, adding it suggested the proposal was not in fact for all customers impacted.

Mr Guinane said he now understood what he was signing off on in light of the documents he received as part of the inquiry. 

However, Ms O’Neill put it to Mr Guinane he was now “ex post facto putting forward an interpretation of Mr O'Grady's email, which wasn't in fact what you thought you were signing up on in 2009”.

Mr Guinane denied this by saying, as he pointed out in his testimony, he did not “not remember what happened in 2009".

"My evidence remains, I have no knowledge of what happened in 2009, period,” Mr Guinane said.

Counsel for Mr Guinane strongly objected to this line of questioning and will address it further next week.