AIB Appeals Panel awards €350k - AIB limits payout to €300k?

Brendan Burgess

Founder
Messages
51,904
I have been asked about a case where the AIB Appeals Panel awarded €350k in a loss of ownership situation. But AIB has said that the maximum they will pay out will be €300k.

Has anyone else experienced this with AIB or any other lender?

I have been unable to find out AIB's policy on this.

The Central Bank says:


If Lenders Boards decide to impose limits on the powers of Appeals Panels (e.g. in respect of the level of compensation that the Appeals Panels may award) the Central Bank expects that Lenders will clearly inform customers of such limits. Any limits imposed on the powers of Appeals Panels must be reasonable and must not be such that they serve to undermine the effectiveness of the Appeals Process. Where Lenders Boards impose limits on the powers of Appeals Panels and the Appeals Panel determines that an award greater than the limit specified is warranted given the specific circumstances of the case, the Appeals Process must provide for a mechanism whereby such awards can be made e.g. referral of the matter to the Lender for sign-off by the Lenders Tracker Steering Committee/Board.
 
@Brendan Burgess
If a decision of either the higher or lower panel exceeds the limit set by the Bank, the decision is referred back to the bank for sign off. For Ulster Bank (and that's the bank I'm most familiar with) even there has been a disagreement between the panel decisions and the bank - they have been mentioned here in the past.

If the panels' decisions exceed the limits set, there is no way to compel the bank to agree with the decision. The Central Bank has no powers in this regard.

If the customer wants they can refer their appeal to the Ombudsman referring the award by the panel which has not been acted upon. They then have up to 18 months delay and a risk of a reduced award as well.

The cards well and truly remain with the banks these cases and it is disappointing that the Central Bank were not tighter in their directions to the banks.
 
According to the Central Bank update in April 2018

4039


They don't seem to have updated this in the final report.

Brendan
 
If the customer wants they can refer their appeal to the Ombudsman referring the award by the panel which has not been acted upon. They then have up to 18 months delay and a risk of a reduced award as well.

Hi SS

That is very interesting. Thanks.

The Ombudsman can go up to €500k.

As you say, the appellant could get more or less.

I presume that the Ombudsman would ignore the award of the Appeals Panel.

Brendan
 
The 11 customers got redress and compensation in excess of €500k.

So the redress was probably a big part. We don't know if anyone got compensation in excess of €500k.

Brendan
 
Hi SS

That is very interesting. Thanks.

The Ombudsman can go up to €500k.

As you say, the appellant could get more or less.

I presume that the Ombudsman would ignore the award of the Appeals Panel.

Brendan
I was told by the Upper Panel themselves the oral hearing, similar to @SaySomething that if the Upper panel recommendation exceeds 75k it must go the Bank's steering committee for approval and there is no way to compel them to do so - you can then go to the ombudsman or court with the report from the panel if the bank won't agree
 
I'm assuming that self-imposed cap by AIB is per each individual appeal (Assuming separate appeals per property owned for the one customer)? Or is it a cap per customer?
 
Back
Top