More excuses and no real answers – so don’t bank on any quick solution

AHIGHLY irritating buzzing sound was a constant problem when Central Bank Governor Philip Lane addressed the Oireachtas Finance Committee on the tracker scandal yesterday.

Everyone in the room was repeatedly asked to switch off their mobiles and other devices. So bad did the interference to the sound system become in committee room two that at one stage chairman John McGuinness decided to suspend the meeting. It was at this point he realised his iPad was the culprit. It was on and this was affecting the sound system, creating the crackling and buzzing.

The failure of the governor to realise he needed to turn off his device could be a metaphor for Prof Lane’s performance and that of his team before the committee. It was a car crash.

He has form. When he last appeared before the committee in December, he had to request a short adjournment because he was not briefed on the tracker issue.

The failure of the Central Bank to grasp the seriousness of the tracker rip-off is probably not surprising given its woeful record on consumer protection, but that does not mean it is not shocking, unforgivable and a dereliction of duty.

Prof Lane and his senior staff repeatedly told the committee the Central Bank did not have the powers to compel banks to compensate affected customers as legislation allowing this only came in around 2013.

Lots of excuses were given for not going after the banks.

The process was in danger of becoming bogged down in legalistic arguments. So attempts were being made to get the banks to voluntarily co-operate with the tracker restoration and refund scheme.

Politicians were stunned when Prof Lane said he could do nothing if banks dispute the right of a homeowner to have a tracker returned to them, even when regulators feel tracker restoration was appropriate.

Prof Lane said anyone whose bank will not give them back a tracker could take a case to the courts or the financial ombudsman. The parcel was being passed to other State bodies.

You are on your own if the bank digs its heels in, was the message.

This is giving the banks a free pass. They just have to dispute a claim for tracker restoration and the Central Bank puppy will roll over.

It is clear the Central Bank is not fit for purpose. Prof Lane appears out of his depth, and the Central Bank is having rings run around it by the banks and their armies of lawyers. It is time the European Commission competition authority raided our banks, just as it did to put manners on the insurance industry. The Central Bank has forgotten the impact on ordinary people of its failure to take a tougher stand.

So come, friendly EU raiders, and fall on the Central Bank, it isn’t fit for consumers now. Not that it ever has been.