The Central Bank has fined the Irish subsidiary of US bank Citibank €550,000 for breaches relating to regulatory liquidity reporting.

In a statement released today, the Central Bank said that it has fined the bank in relation to five contraventions relating to regulatory liquidity reporting. The breaches occurred from January 2nd 2009 to July 31st 2012.

The contraventions included Citibank’s failure to ensure the accuracy of its liquidity reporting to the Central Bank in accordance with sound administrative principles; and failing to comply with the regulator’s requirements by failing to apply haircuts (discounts on cash-flows) to retail and corporate deposits to reflect the perceived risk associated with holding such deposits, before including these deposits in liquidity returns.

Derville Rowland, director of enforcement at the Central Bank, noted that it is the fourth settlement by the Central Bank in the last four years for breaches of the liquidity requirements.

“The failure by regulated financial services providers to ensure the accuracy of regulatory reporting to the Central Bank undermines the ability of the Central Bank to supervise such institutions and is viewed as a serious matter,” she said, adding that the Central Bank will continue to use “its range of regulatory tools including enforcement where regulated entities fall short of the required standards”.