Central Bank’s INBS inquiry panel can claim €750 per day

The three panel members hearing the Central Bank's inquiry into Irish Nationwide Building Society are being paid €150 an hour, subject to a maximum of €750 per day.

Inquiry members can also claim travel costs and expenses consistent with "Government circulars and guidance", the Central Bank has told The Irish Times.

The inquiry was established in July last year following an investigation by the Central Bank into INBS stretching back to 2010. It held a number of meetings in private before moving to public hearings at the end of last month.

The inquiry is being chaired by Marian Shanley, a solicitor, with the other members being barrister Ciara McGoldrick and Geoffrey McEnery, a former chief executive of Lloyds TSB Bank in Asia.

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The Central Bank has taken an 12-month lease for “certain areas” of the DMG building at Blackhall Place in Dublin for its hearings, with an option to extend.

The lease started in June and the building has been adapted to provide suitable accommodation for the hearings. The building is currently under the control of a receiver, Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton.

Public hearings

The bank said final set-up costs for the building were not yet available.

The inquiry’s first day of public hearings was held on November 30th, with a large number of security personnel present.

The regulator said this was being managed by the Central Bank’s security team “supplemented by external resources as required”.

“Central Bank security determine the number of security guards required on a daily basis, and meet this requirement through a mix of internal staff and contractors as required, as with all Central Bank premises. We cannot provide details of the security budget,” it added.

Its “total facilities management contract” was publicly procured and signed on April 12th this year for five years, with an option to extend by two periods of 12 months.

Regulatory breaches

The contract was awarded to

Aramark

and covers sites at North Wall Quay, Currency Centre in Sandyford, Spencer Dock and any land or building notified in writing to the contractor during the period, including at Blackhall Place.

Some five former directors and senior management of INBS are accused of regulatory breaches between August 2004 and September 2008, the month of the Government’s bank guarantee.

The inquiry began its public hearings on November 30th, when former INBS chief executive Michael Fingleton demanded that its work be postponed until well into next year while he mounts a legal challenge.

Michael Walsh, INBS's former chairman, will have an application for a termination of the inquiry heard when it next sits on December 13th. The panel is also due to hold a public hearing on December 14th.

This inquiry is breaking new ground for the Central Bank in terms of pursuing regulatory breaches.

Some 110,000 documents were submitted to the panel for consideration. The panel will have the power to make findings that will have legal effect. A range of sanctions can be applied to the five men, including a fine of up to €500,000.