Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 December 2015
106. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 224 to 227, inclusive, of 17 February 2015, the status of the enforcement investigation by the Central Bank of Ireland; the number of relevant customers who will be entitled to refunds; the total loss involved; when appropriate redress for those customers will be made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43405/15]
View answerAs I have outlined previously, permanent tsb ("PTSB") is currently subject to an Enforcement Investigation by the Central Bank in relation to the circumstances in which certain customers lost an entitlement to return to a tracker rate mortgage or, in the case of Springboard which was a subsidiary business of PTSB at the time, were placed on the incorrect rate during their mortgage contract.
On 28 July 2015, PTSB announced that it had launched a Mortgage Redress Programme ("MRP") to correct the position of customer accounts who it had identified were impacted in these matters. The bank confirmed that a total of 1,372 customer accounts were impacted. Of this number 1,152 were linked with PTSB and 220 were linked with Springboard.
PTSB informs me that as of last Friday (27 November 2015) a total of 1,147 (84%) of these customer accounts have been fully redressed. This means that, depending on the individual customer circumstances, each customer has received compensation, had their mortgage account adjusted, received a net refund due and, where appropriate, have been moved to the relevant tracker rate to which they had an entitlement. Of the number of customer accounts which have been redressed to date, 952 were linked to PTSB and 195 were linked to Springboard.
It should be noted that even though customers may accept full redress, they retain the right to appeal the matter to appeal panels established for that purpose. PTSB has informed me that there are two appeal panels, an Independent Appeals Panel for loss of ownership cases and cases which have ever been the subject of legal action and a Customers appeals panel to deal with all other appeals. The Deputy should also be aware that an affected customer has the right to appeal to the Financial Service Ombudsman or to the Courts.
The bank is continuing its work to ensure that all affected customer accounts receive appropriate redress.
As I have stated previously, it is my understanding that as part of its Enforcement Investigation the Central Bank has the power to impose a regulatory sanction on the bank for its conduct in this matter but that is ultimately a matter for the Central Bank and it would not be appropriate for me to comment on that.
On 30 September 2015, PTSB announced that it had established a wider Mortgage Product Review Group ("MPRG" ) to identify any instances where the contractual terms and conditions attached to accounts are not being fully honoured by the bank and/or whether other material issues such as the provision of key information at relevant times requires further examination. I have been informed by PTSB that the review group is now up and running.
