New protections for persons making protected disclosures to the Central Bank came into force on 1 August 2013. This also introduced new obligations on certain categories of persons in regulated firms to disclose breaches of financial services legislation to the Central Bank. The Central Bank has established a whistleblower desk and put in place policies and procedures to ensure that such disclosures are dealt with appropriately. The Central Bank also has a designated channel through which it receives various protected disclosure reports from people external to the Central Bank (members of the public, employees working in regulated firms etc.) regarding alleged breaches or contraventions of financial services legislation by financial services entities. The Central Bank considers the receipt of such protected disclosure reports as an important supervisory tool in allowing members of the public or staff members of regulated entities to provide such reports in a confidential form to the Central Bank.
The number of protected disclosures made to the Central Bank from 1 August 2013 to year end 2013 was 10, 42 in 2014, 49 in 2015, 50 in 2016 and in excess of 40 to date in 2017.
As outlined on page 60 of the Central Bank's 2016 Annual Report, various supervisory actions have been initiated following the receipt of protected disclosures reports including: enforcement action, on-site inspections conducted, Risk Mitigation Plans issued and firms placed on a watch list. Not all reports received will result in supervisory action being initiated as the information may not be sufficient to take action; or the information received was not substantiated when investigated; or information was provided anonymously and contact for further supporting information could not be made.
The Central Bank is currently considering approximately 50 whistleblower allegations.
The Bank has not provided the penalties imposed on foot of protected disclosures. However, the Bank imposed fines totalling €12.05 million in 2016, the largest figure for fines imposed by the Bank in a single year to date. A fine of €4.5 million was imposed on Springboard Mortgages Limited for serious failings in its obligations to tracker mortgage customers.
Since 2006, 108 Settlement Agreements have been reached for regulatory breaches, with fines totalling approximately €57 million. The notices for all Settlement Agreements are published on the Central Bank’s website: https://www.centralbank.ie/news-media/legal-notices/settlement-agreements
