Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 4 April 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland

10:00 am

Professor Philip Lane:

Absolutely. As indicated in our most recent report and my opening statement, as far as we can we communicate it, we have a twin-track approach. It is supervisory in engaging with firms and backed up by enforcement powers. It is important to emphasise that our enforcement powers are now much stronger than they were pre-2013. In 2010 we issued a letter to all institutions expressing our concern about tracker mortgages and reminding them that violations would be subject to enforcement and an administrative sanctions procedure. We have already seen this in the case of Springboard Mortgages and have others in train. We are saying all of it is subject to enforcement and that it has been effective.