The Central Bank has fined E-Services & Communications Credit Union €155,000 and reprimanded it for a contravention of regulatory requirements in the Central Bank Reform Act 2010.
The E-Services Credit Union was founded in 1961 and was initially known as the Civil Service Credit Union Ltd and then the Telecom Eireann Staff Credit Union Ltd.
Its offices are in Dawson Street in Dublin and it delivers financial services to the communications industry.
It has a membership of over 14,000 country wide and assets of over €195m.
The Central Bank found that the credit union breached three separate fitness and probity requirements over a period of more than three years.
The investigation found that E-Services failed to introduce adequate systems or controls to ensure full compliance with its fitness and probity obligations.
It also failed to take all reasonable steps to carry out adequate due diligence on individuals performing controlled functions.
The credit union also failed to ensure that certain employees and an outsourced internal audit service provider complied with and agreed to abide by the standards.
The Central Bank said an aggravating feature in the case was a representation made by E-Services that all the deficiencies had been rectified, when it subsequently transpired that this was not the case.
The Central Bank's Director of Enforcement and Anti-Money Laundering, Seána Cunningham, said that under the fitness and probity regime, financial service providers are responsible for ensuring that individuals in senior positions are fit and proper, both at the time of their appointment, and on an ongoing basis.
"The risks where credit unions fail to do so are significant, and misconduct by senior management in the wider credit union sector and other sectors has previously been identified and sanctioned by the Central Bank," she added.
