Appointment of liquidators to Rush Credit Union confirmed by High Court

Credit union had €4.7m hole in reserves amid allegations of financial irregularities

The High Court has approved the appointment of liquidators to Rush Credit Union, following the emergence earlier this month of a €4.7 million hole in its reserves and allegations of financial mismanagement emerged.

McStay Luby had been appointed as provisional liquidators on November 2nd, following an application by the Central Bank of Ireland and had its appointment rubber stamped by the court on Monday.

The regulator had used its legal power to apply for the winding-up at Rush due to issues around governance, financial and internal control failures that were identified through various reviews, reports and inspections dating from 2010.

On August 31st this year, Rush had regulatory reserves of -8.7 per cent rather than the required minimum of 10 per cent of its assets.

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Insolvent

Rush was deemed to be insolvent with its total liabilities exceeding its total assets by €2 million.

In its resolution report, the Central Bank said a liquidation of Rush Credit Union was the “appropriate course of action” to undertake.

Since the appointment of the provisional liquidators, the Central Bank has issued compensation payments through the Deposit Guarantee Scheme to about 9,700 members of Rush.

The total compensation paid to date amounts to €22.3 million, representing 98 per cent of deposits covered by the scheme. Members began receiving their payments from November 11th.

Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock is Business Editor of The Irish Times