KBC Bank tracker bill likely to top out at €143m at 3,769 cases
The final bill for KBC Bank Ireland for its part in the industry-wide tracker mortgage scandal is likely to settle around €143m and the number of cases for the bank is unlikely to rise significantly above the 3,769 accounts affected.
It comes as the bank presented new figures that suggested it had suffered little from the controversial remarks of its group chief executive Johan Thijs in November when he expressed impatience over the regulator’s focus on the tracker mortgage scandal.
The head of KBC Bank in Ireland, Peter Roebben said Mr Thijs had fulsomely apologised for the remarks that led to a sharp rebuke from the Central Bank, adding the Irish bank had one of its best quarters for some time by boosting its share of the new mortgage market to 11.8%.
Nonetheless, Mr Roebben said there was long way to go before the Irish banking industry regained the trust of the Irish public.
The bill for KBC to cover compensation and other costs for its part in the tracker mortgage inquiry is running at €143m. The amount includes €14m it had already chalked up to cover an anticipated fine the Central Bank will impose on the lender. T
he Irish bank posted a net profit in the fourth quarter of €3m, compared with €13m a year earlier. Net profit for the full year slid to €32.3m from €162m in 2018.
The compensation paid to its 3,769 tracker account holders takes account of the formal closure in June of the Central Bank investigation but there are a number of customers in the appeals process, Mr Roebben said, but not on the scale facing other lenders.
Asked whether Irish banks faced tougher regulations under a new government, he said the KBC Bank Ireland paid €11.3m in corporate taxes and €31.8m in the bank levy last year, which meant it effectively paid an elevated level of tax.
