In several countries in recent years, public and media attention
has been focused on the mis-selling of payment protection insurance
(PPI). In 2012 the Central Bank of Ireland directed that a
widespread review of PPI sales be undertaken, which resulted in
refunds of €67.4 million (including interest of €4.9
million) being made to approximately 77,000 policyholders.
Notwithstanding this, a huge volume of disgruntled policyholders
have maintained that they were mis-sold PPI and have either
submitted a complaint to the Financial Services Ombudsman (FSO) or
issued legal proceedings. To date, both the FSO and the Irish
courts have largely found in favour of credit institutions and
ruled that PPI was not mis-sold to policyholders. However, this has
not discouraged claimants and challenges to PPI sales persist.
