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Bank of Ireland Group PLC on Thursday said it has been fined €100.5 million by the Central Bank of Ireland for regulatory breaches affecting tracker mortgage customers.
Shares in the Dublin-based lender were down 2.9% to €6.53 in Dublin on Thursday morning.
Central bank said the penalty was imposed for a series of ‘significant and long-running failings’ in respect of 15,910 tracker mortgage customer accounts impacted between August 2004 and June 2022.
Bank of Ireland had admitted to 81 separate regulatory breaches.
The investigation found that Bank of Ireland failures resulted in the loss of 50 properties, including 25 family homes, which would have been avoided if it had complied with the ‘most basic and fundamental of its consumer protection obligations’.
Further, it said Bank of Ireland had provided ‘unclear contractual documents’ to customers. It added that mortgage letters of offer were ‘unclear and ambiguous’ regarding customers' right to a tracker rate after a fixed rate period.
Bank of Ireland said the fine is within its provisions, as set out in its most recent interim results.
The central bank's director of enforcement & anti-money laundering, Seana Cunningham, said: ‘Our investigation exposed a culture in Bank of Ireland which, when faced with a choice, prioritised its own interests with little to no regard for the impacts on its customers.
‘There were a series of missed opportunities during which Bank of Ireland could have done the right thing by its tracker mortgage customers.
‘Despite these opportunities, Bank of Ireland repeatedly interpreted unclear contractual terms in its own favour and against the customer, which continued the harm and loss caused to customers over many years.’
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