Bank pays €500 for loan refusal

A FINANCIAL institution has been ordered to pay €500 compensation to a Nigerian man after the Equality Tribunal ruled that it had discriminated against him on race grounds in turning down a loan application in February 2002.

The tribunal said the payment of €500 was to compensate the man for any humiliation and distress which he suffered as a result of the finding that the bank was in breach of the Equal Status Act.

However, the tribunal said the Nigerian man had failed to establish a prima facie case to support his other allegations of racial discrimination.