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(Adds Bank of Ireland statement)
DUBLIN, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Ireland's central bank has fined
Bank of Ireland 24.5 million euros ($27.8 million) over
technology failures that the lender took more than a decade to
fix.
Handing down one of its largest ever penalties, the central
bank on Thursday said that IT service continuity deficiencies
were repeatedly identified in third-party reports from 2008
onwards but Bank of Ireland only started to address them in
2015, resolving matters four years later.
The lack of a robust framework and internal controls at
Ireland's largest bank in terms of assets could have left it
unable to ensure continuity of critical services and led to
adverse effects on customers and the financial system, the
central bank said.
Bank of Ireland admitted to five regulatory breaches over
the 12-year period.
Its fine was reduced from 35 million euros in accordance
with a settlement discount.
The central bank said steps taken by the lender since 2015
had improved its IT service continuity framework and internal
controls.
Bank of Ireland said it fully acknowledged and sincerely
apologised for each of the breaches and that it had invested
heavily in IT service continuity to address the issues.
($1 = 0.8821 euros)
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin
Editing by John Stonestreet and David Goodman)