Can you explain what you mean by this? Are you saying it's "Joe Public" that is the cause of high house prices?how society here rips each other off by pushing into yet another housing bubble.
I don't know of anyone, outside the construction sector, who thinks high house prices are a good idea.According to latest statistics, house prices have risen another 12% over the last year. 2nd place in Europe when it comes to house price rises! Yeah!
Nothing, absolutely nothing, the banks have done, do, or will do, will come even close to how society here rips each other off by pushing into yet another housing bubble.
As long as everybody - including politics - think that high house prices = good all the other stuff pales almost into insignificance.
That's the great little country we live in.
Okay, but give that you say that "there is no such thing as collective guilt -- individuals are responsible" what's your opinion on the specific issue at hand?Prices up around 30% just since this article was written in late 2014. That's about €100 bn added to the price of Irish property. A mere billion of fiddling by the banks is literally in the ha'penny place. Also, if we had decent competition, banks who have been penalised for their fiddling would not be able to push the costs on the consumer. One of the reasons for lack of competition is lack of enforcability of mortgage contracts because Irish buyers consider it a god-given right to borrow stupid amounts of money and then squat in the property when, surprise surprise, they can't pay it back. Neither the banks, the politicians, nor the public are blameless. (That said, there is no such thing as collective guilt -- individuals are responsible).
If we had a functioning banking/credit sector we'd have more home building and therefore lower home prices.
The mortgage book should be part of the business, not the business as it is with Irish banks. And until people accept that just as in the rest of Europe, not everyone can or should own a house that will continue. A housing policy that requires people to either rely on social services or take on large volumes of debt just does not work.
Okay, but give that you say that "there is no such thing as collective guilt -- individuals are responsible" what's your opinion on the specific issue at hand?
I agree but it shouldn't stop with the compliance officer. There were meetings and decisions were made. The people who were at those meetings and were part of, or privy to, the decision making process should also face prison time.I think that's pretty clear. The chances that all the banks "accidentally" engaged in overcharging large swaths of their customers is precisely zero. Individuals at the banks consciously decided to act criminally to the detriment of thousands of people, causing extreme hardship in some cases and almost certainly some deaths by suicide. Every bank has a compliance officer. I'd start by jailing every one of them, and/or using them as canaries to get to the actual people responsible. Obviously, this being Ireland, that's never going to happen.
I agree but it shouldn't stop with the compliance officer. There were meetings and decisions were made. The people who were at those meetings and were part of, or privy to, the decision making process should also face prison time.
Until people face the realistic prospect of 10-15 years in prison these things are bound to repeat themselves.
Ah yea, there's no chance that anyone will face real sanctions for this. Since the banks will recover any fines through higher bank charges the reality is that the very people who were overcharged will actually end up paying for this, along with every other bank customer.Agreed - but when the Governor of the Central Bank clearly did not know (at last week's Finance Committee meeting) the level of financial sanctions available then I reckon custodial sentences are a long, long way away.
So they have the €700 million in a drawer somewhere?The total cost to the banks is about €300m not excess €1b.
about €700m is refunds of customer's money that the banks incorrectly took - so it inflated their profits over the past 8 years.
The 300m is fairly small in the overall scheme of things. Some will be recouped by higher charges, but primarily it will be a one off hit to profits and that affects shareholders - theoretically affecting many as pension funds and the government are the main shareholders in all banks
No, but it will be a one off charge to the bottom line and affect their profits - just the opposite of when it increased their profits when the took it off.So they have the €700 million in a drawer somewhere?
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