A KILKENNY-BASED financial services provider has been fined €12,000 for regulatory breaches on foot of an investigation into bonds issued by ill-fated specialist Dublin lender International Securities Trading Corporate (ISTC).
The Financial Regulator is conducting an ongoing investigation into the sale of ISTC bonds by financial intermediaries to consumers.
Bond investors were forced to write off €270.5 million last year when the lender, established by former Anglo Irish Bank executive Tiarnan O’Mahoney, almost collapsed, before being sold to British investment bank Collins Stewart for €5 million.
In a statement yesterday the regulator said that it had reprimanded and fined James David Murphy and Ann Murphy, trading as JD Murphy Investment Life Pension Benefits, for suspected breaches of the Consumer Protection Code when selling bonds, including one ISTC bond.
A number of procedural breaches were uncovered which highlighted a failure by Mr Murphy and the firm to put in place adequate systems and controls to ensure compliance with regulations.
However, the regulator confirmed it had received no direct complaints from clients of the firm in relation to the breaches.
