Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS) has admitted to widespread breaches following a Central Bank investigation, which the Bank described as being "unparalleled in its degree of complexity and scale to any case which preceded it."
The building society was issued with a €5m fine, but the Central Bank has decided that it would not be in the "public interest" to pursue the collection of the fine and it will not do.
INBS has no assets, and has already cost the Irish taxpayer €5.4bn since it collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis.
The investigation commenced in 2010 and focussed on INBS’s commercial lending and credit risk management processes.
The Director of Enforcement, Derville Rowland, commented on the findings: "INBS has admitted multiple failings at several levels of its commercial lending process, from operational lending, to credit review, its Credit, Provisions and Audit Committees all the way to its Board of Directors."
She continues: "INBS’s admitted failings amount to a consistent and, at times, wholesale disregard for its own policies and procedures."
