Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 October 2017
94. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Finance if the ODCE or the Financial Services Ombudsman is examining the possibility of criminal sanctions being applied to those in Irish banks which wrongfully precluded persons from availing of their legal entitlement to their tracker mortgage options. [44916/17]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, the Central Bank is conducting an industry wide examination of tracker mortgage related issues and arising from this it has and is pursuing enforcement investigations into a number of mortgage lenders.
It is also important to note that the Central Bank, in its role as independent financial regulator, has statutory reporting obligations to An Garda Síochána and other agencies where it suspects a criminal offence may have been committed by a supervised entity. The Central Bank takes these obligations very seriously and complies with them on an on-going basis as appropriate, and it has met with An Garda Síochána and other entities.
The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, which falls under the remit of the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, has its own statutory remit and if it considers that there have been breaches of company law it would be a matter for that body to consider the appropriate action to pursue.
In regard to the Financial Services Ombudsman (FSO), the FSO deals independently with unresolved complaints from consumers about their individual dealings with all regulated financial service providers. The FSO tries, in the first instance, to resolve complaints in an informal manner by mediation through its dedicated Dispute Resolution Service. However, where disputes are not resolved through mediation the FSO will investigate and adjudicate on the complaint. The FSO has a wide range of powers and can direct compensation of up to €250,000 and direct rectification which could, for example, include redress, where a borrower has been charged the incorrect interest rate, and restoration to the correct rate. While a person who obstructs the Financial Services Ombudsman in the exercise of his functions and powers or fails to comply with requirements or requests during an investigation may be guilty of an offence and subject to criminal sanction, the FSO does not, however, have the power to apply criminal sanctions for actions of a financial service provider in their dealings with individual consumers.
