Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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93. To ask the Minister for Finance the exact nature of the 4,000 new cases in the Central Bank's April 2018 update on the tracker scandal; the new groups that have been included; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18885/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Central Bank has advised that, as set out in its recently published April 2018 Tracker Mortgage Examination Progress Report, the total number of impacted customers identified through the Examination to end-March 2018 is c. 30,000 (of which 1,500 remain to be verified by lenders) and that this represents an increase of 3,400 identified customer accounts since the December report. (When added to the c. 7,100 cases resolved outside of the Examination, this brings the total number of customer accounts affected by tracker mortgage-related issues at end-March 2018 to 37,100). The Central Bank also advises that this increase is principally the result of verification of total numbers reported by lenders previously (as unverified estimates), as well as a small number of customer accounts newly identified by lenders.

Intensive review and challenge by the Central Bank has continued since the December report, and this remains ongoing. It should be noted that verification work by lenders, and review and challenge by the Central Bank, may lead to some further increase in the number of affected customers before conclusion of the Examination. The Central Bank has and will continue to challenge lenders in relation to various strands of the Examination until it is satisfied that all affected customers are identified and that lenders have carried out the Examination in accordance with the Framework set down by the Central Bank.

Due to statutory confidentially requirements, the Central Bank has advised that it is not in a position to comment on its supervisory engagement with individual firms and that, generally speaking, it can only disclose supervisory information in summary or aggregate form so that individual firms cannot be identified.