Central Bank: Former ptsb CEO broke rules in relation to tracker mortgages

It found that "on the balance of probabilities" between 19 January 2009 and April 2010, Mr Guinane participated in a breach by PTSB of its regulatory obligation by not acting in the best interests of its customers when it dealt with customers who indicated their intention to return to a tracker-rate loan and whose mortgage loan agreements contained a contractual clause to do so.

It said that the bank adopted a process that avoided offering the original tracker rate to which certain customers were entitled, unless the customer queried or complained about the rate they were offered.

It was determined that Mr Guinane's participation arose as a result of his failure to consider the implications for customers when signing off on a proposal to adopt that process.

The Central Bank found that PTSB treated those customers who did not complain about the tracker rate that was applied after the fixed-rate period, unfairly and contrary to their best interests when compared to those that actually complained.
 
From the Irish Times report


The bank adopted a strategy in January 2009, on foot of legal advice, to only put customers who requested the original rate – or complained – on the more favourable rate.

The Central Bank position is that Mr Guinane signed off on the strategy when he responded with the words “okay to that” on January 19th, 2009, to an email from a colleague, which proposed only customers who contacted the bank would be allowed to revert to their original rate. This breached the Consumer Protection Code 2006, which requires financial firms to act in the best interests of customers, the regulator argued during hearings last year.
 
Sunday Business post has it as well.

https://www.businesspost.ie/news/no...ef-david-guinane-in-tracker-mortgage-inquiry/

"‘No finding of dishonesty’ against ex-PTSB chief David Guinane in tracker mortgage inquiry"

"David Guinane, the former chief executive of PTSB, did not ‘form an intention to harm or take advantage of customers’, a Central Bank inquiry has found."

That's all fine so, it was a bit of a misunderstanding and they couldn't help that the resulting profits continued to flow in.

And it's not as if the matter is closed or anything. “I am extremely disappointed to read the findings of the inquiry member. I have and still maintain that I have done nothing wrong,” Mr Guinane said in a statement to The Irish Times. “I do not accept the findings and am advised by my legal team that these findings are fundamentally flawed and I will be exercising my right to appeal at the earliest opportunity.”

Guinane is the first individual to face an inquiry for their role in the tracker mortgage controversy - Out of all the banks and all the shenanigans that went on - one individual !!

This, 15 years later after the hardship and misery that this decision caused. Truly, to hijack the words of Denis Healy describing Geoffry Howe's attack on Thatcher, being sanctioned by the Central Bank of Ireland is like being savaged by a dead sheep.
 
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