The Irish Nationwide Building Society conducted a special examination of non-resident accounts in 1993 by measuring activity on accounts and querying whether those with frequent activity were genuine.
Its internal audit function, which was set up in 1991, noted 610 accounts were transacting more than once a month.
In early 1994, it asked a sample of branches to confirm in writing that these accounts were held by genuine non-residents and if they were not, to convert them to resident status.
In all, 24 branches representing around 100 accounts responded to the request. Internal audit was satisfied that the society did not have a problem with bogus non-resident accounts and did not seek explanations from the remaining branches or agents.
However, the report notes that there were instances where responses were not obtained or where account holders were re-designated resident.