Banking failure ‘unacceptable’, says ICMSA chief

THE Central Bank should insist that all banks carry out a complete review of charges imposed on customers, ICMSA president Pat McCormack said this week.

His comments follow the announcement by Ulster Bank that it is preparing to pay around €36m in refunds and compensation to 18,000 business customers who were overcharged on loans going back more than a decade.

Mr McCormack said it was unacceptable that the regulatory system failed to pick up on such overcharging.

“The news that farmer customers who took out loans since 2012 — excluding special low-interest loans or overdrafts — are amongst the latest group identified by Ulster Bank as having been overcharged by 0.33pc highlights a failure in the regulatory regime,” the ICMSA leader said.

“ICMSA has been in contact with Ulster Bank who have confirmed that an unspecified number of farmers were amongst this latest case of overcharging and will be eligible for the redress that Ulster Bank estimates on average at €2,000,” Mr McCormack said.

“As of now we’ve absolutely no idea where that figure comes from and how it’s calculated. But we’d be very anxious that no-one would consider that the end of the matter,” he added.

Ulster Bank apologised to customers for the overcharging and said it recognised that “full resolution” was essential for customers.