BANK GUARANTEE:IRISH NATIONWIDE has been fined €50,000 for failing to act "professionally" and "with due regard to the integrity of the market" over an e-mail sent by the son of the building society's chief executive, soliciting for deposits on the strength of the Government's bank guarantee scheme.
The Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority said a settlement had been reached with Irish Nationwide over the circulation of an e-mail by the building society last Wednesday, and that the society had accepted the behaviour was a breach of the regulator's consumer protection code.
The regulator reprimanded Irish Nationwide and found that the society had breached "general principle 1" in the first chapter of its consumer protection code.
A spokesman for the society said it had paid the fine. "The matter is now closed," he said.
Irish Nationwide had apologised for the e-mail, saying that it was "inappropriate and regrettable in the circumstances".
