€683 million paid to affected customers – Final Report of Central Bank Tracker Mortgage Examination

• Final report of Tracker Mortgage Examination shows lenders have paid out €683 million in redress and compensation to customers
• 40,100 customers affected by lenders’ failings, with 98 per cent of those affected having received their redress and compensation at end-May 2019
• One enforcement investigation completed and record fine imposed, with investigations against the remaining lenders continuing

The Central Bank has published the final report of the Tracker Mortgage Examination, showing that at end-May 2019, lenders have paid out €683 million in redress and compensation to customers affected by their failings. In all, 40,100 customers have been affected.

Following extensive and robust supervisory challenge and assurance work to ensure lenders identified groups of customers affected by tracker failings, the supervisory phase of the Examination is complete.

The Central Bank completed its first enforcement action in relation to the Examination at end-May, fining PTSB €21 million for its failings. Enforcement investigations against all the other main lenders continue.

Derville Rowland, Director General, Financial Conduct, said:

“The scale of lenders’ tracker mortgage failings was industry-wide, causing immense distress and damage to affected customers and their families. It required an unprecedented regulatory response in the shape of the Tracker Mortgage Examination, the largest, most complex and significant consumer protection review the Central Bank of Ireland has ever undertaken. Through the Examination, we required lenders to identify those affected and pay appropriate redress and compensation. Additionally, we continue to pursue lenders through our enforcement investigations. The outcome of our first enforcement action – which resulted in the largest fine imposed to date by the Central Bank - reflects the gravity with which we view lenders’ tracker failings.

“The Examination revealed the unacceptable damage that misconduct can cause to consumers up to and including the loss of their homes and properties in some cases. Our message today – to all the firms we regulate – is very clear: Where firms fail to protect their customers’ best interests, our response will be robust and the consequences will be serious.”

Notes:

• The €683 million paid out by lenders to end-May includes €47 million paid out outside of the Tracker Mortgage Examination.
• The figure of 40,100 affected is an aggregate figure including c.33,000 affected customer accounts accepted by lenders as part of the Examination as well as c.7,100 tracker mortgage cases remediated following Central Bank intervention outside of the Examination.
• Through all of the enforcement investigations, which span lengthy time periods, the Central Bank is seeking to establish the circumstances in which customers lost their trackers and how lenders dealt with tracker mortgage issues as they became aware of them. The enforcement investigations are also examining whether the documentation, which customers received from lenders, was clear and what key decisions lenders took (or omitted to take) which resulted in customers losing their trackers or being on the incorrect rate.
• While the supervisory phase of the Examination is now concluded, the Central Bank will continue to monitor the outcomes of any complaints, appeals and court cases.
• Ninety-eight per cent of identified affected customer accounts had received offers of redress and compensation by the end of May, while the remaining customers will have received their offers by now or in the coming weeks - where they are contactable.
• In the case of the small number of customers who have proved uncontactable to date, the Central Bank has set out its expectation that lenders hold their redress and compensation in a special ring-fenced account.