7 days ago
Central Bank recorded loss of €795m last year
The Central Bank of Ireland made a loss of €795.4m last year as a consequence of using its balance sheet as a tool for monetary policy.
Publishing its annual report, the CBI said the utilisation of its general risk provision brought the result to a nil profit for the year.
Central Bank governor Gabriel Makhlouf said the bank's financial position remained robust, despite the losses. "These losses reflect the use of our balance sheet as a policy tool, and — over a number of years — the bank has built up substantial financial buffers in anticipation of such an eventuality," he said.
He said the interest rate mismatch risk, which caused the loss, was anticipated and projected, and the Central Bank took a number of actions in recent years to mitigate the impact. As part of its assessment of the risk, a provision of €3bn was built up to cover anticipated losses.
The bank's wide-ranging report covers various actions taken in 2024. "Over the course of the year, we put in place a new integrated approach to regulation and supervision, which involved significant internal reorganisation.
"This, among other things, will enable us to better respond to the risk environment of the sectors we supervise and the consumers we work to protect," Mr Makhlouf said.
Enforcement actions last year included a €1.2m fine for Goodbody Stockbrokers for failing to put in place an effective trade surveillance framework to monitor, detect and report suspicious orders and transactions.
Waystone Fund Management was fined €393,512 for eight breaches, including failings in relation to due diligence, conflicts of interest, delegate oversight, risk management, valuation procedures and treating investors fairly.
The Central Bank reprimanded and fined BlueSnap Payment Services Ireland Limited (BlueSnap) €324,240 for three breaches of the European Union (Payment Services) Regulations 2018, for failing to comply with its safeguarding obligations and failing to inform the Central Bank promptly of changes to the accuracy of information given at authorisation.
Three Central Bank inquiries continued in 2024, including one related to former PTSB chief executive David Guinane, who in January was found to have participated in a failure by the bank in 2009 to act in the best interests of certain tracker mortgage customers, breaching consumer protection rules.
Other actions by the Central Bank included issuing currency. Last year, the Central Bank issued 166 million banknotes, valued at €5.3bn, representing a 2% decrease on the 169 million banknotes issued in 2023. The Central Bank, acting as agent for the minister for finance, issued 63 million coins, value at €33m.
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