Irish Examiner View: Bank fine will be paid by customers

KBC have been fined by the Central Bank over the way it handled tracker mortgages.

Even as many of the world's foremost banks are implicated in money-laundering schemes driving terrorism and international crime Ireland's tracker mortgage scandal should not be forgotten. It was on a more intimate scale, it reached into homes in destructive ways. It was a  conspiratorial breach of trust and abuse of position showing the arrogance that has undermined so many of our pillar institutions.

Because of that scandal, the Central Bank imposed a fine of €26m, reduced to €18.3m, on KBC Bank Ireland. That regional KBC bank reported a net profit of €32m after-tax and impairments for 2019. KBC's worldwide profits for 2019 stand at €2,489m. Though hardly as soft-touch as a €13bn tax fine on Apple - 2019 revenue $260bn - the KBC fine may not be transformative - especially as it will be paid, one way or another, by the bank's customers.