Central Bank consumer protection chief Colm Kincaid wrote to all chief executives on Thursday. File photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish TimesThe Central Bank of Ireland has written to all regulated firms in the State such as banks warning them to treat customers fairly as they grapple with the cost-of-living crisis.
Mr Kincaid warned the chief executives that financial institutions should strive to avoid causing customers “harm”. He said the cost-of-living crisis is causing huge change for customers and it is the “responsibility of firms to navigate this change in a manner that places the best interests of consumers at the heart of their commercial decision-making”.
“Firms must ensure they have clear procedures for calculating consumers’ capacity for loss, to ensure they do not invest in products that are outside their financial capacity,” the chief executives of the institutions were told.