The Pensions Board has begun an investigation into the administration of the staff pensions scheme at the EBS building society, The Irish Times has learned. The latest inquiry follows a long delay in reporting to staff about errors in the administration of the scheme in the mid-1990s. These errors were admitted to The Irish Times by fund administrator Irish Pensions Trust (IPT) in October 1998.
The board's intervention came in recent weeks following a meeting with the fund trustees at the board's request. It follows the appointment more than a year ago of two independent accountants to investigate the scheme's administration. This investigation went back to 1991.
Ms Anne Maher, Pensions Board chief executive, confirmed that an investigation under section 18 of the Pensions Act was under way. "The investigation relates to the historical administration of the fund and there are not, to the board's knowledge, any current problems in the scheme," she said.
The board investigation will concentrate on the administration of benefits and augmentations - additional payments into a scheme to cover, for example, early retirement.
The chairman of the pension scheme trustees, solicitor Mr Gary Byrne, welcomed the intervention of the Pensions Board. "It will help to dispel the uncertainty some staff feel. Though its remit will be more limited than the wide terms of the independent investigators, the board will deal with the issues quickly and efficiently and it will help this to a speedy conclusion."
Member trustee Ms Mary Devine said she had always sought an investigation by the Pensions Board. But she said she still wanted to see a report from the independent investigators to establish "what access to information they got and how far they have progressed". Asked if the independent investigation would continue, she said: "We will not be able to make a decision on whether to continue that investigation until we see a report from the investigators.
"Three deadlines have gone by without the issuing of any report. We need to see what sort of answers they got and how far they progressed," she added.
IPT had administered the EBS scheme since 1960. The errors included the payment of a pension from the staff scheme to a person who was not a member of that scheme and a delay in repaying the money to the staff scheme after the error was pointed out by the scheme auditors.
Other errors included the charging of fees to the staff scheme which should have been charged to the managers' pension scheme, employers' contributions listed as employee contributions and mis-stated pension payments.
Concerned EBS staff called for an independent investigation into the administration of their scheme. Around August 1998 the trustees, under the then newly appointed chairman, Mr Byrne, agreed to an independent audit of the administration backdated to January 1st, 1991. However, Mr Byrne said it was June 1999 before wide-ranging terms of reference for the investigation were finalised and the investigation could get under way. A report on the investigation was expected by September 1999 but because so much historical and complex information was required from a number of sources, the reporting date was put forward to December 1999 and again to February 28th, 2000. But no report has been issued. The investigators were not available for comment yesterday.
Staff sources said they now hoped the Pensions Board, with its legal powers to procure documents, could conduct a speedy investigation so that staff could be assured about their pension scheme.
EBS yesterday welcomed the Pensions Board involvement. "We are looking forward to a speedy resolution. These are historical administrative issues relating to Irish Pensions Trust for which IPT has apologised to the society and to the trustees. Despite the errors, at no time were the employee benefits in jeopardy. The scheme is significantly in surplus," a spokesman said.
