Bank of Ireland customers will get more than €1.8 million returned to them after the bank charged fees against the orders of the regulator.
The repayments follow a High Court case over fees charged by the bank to its Business On-Line and American Express Blue Credit Card customers.
The Director of Consumer Affairs, Ms Carmel Foley, directed the bank in July 2002 to refrain from charging fees on the services after it questioned her entitlement to review the fees charged.
The bank refused but lost the case in the High Court in March 2003.
The bank subsequently applied to the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA), which assumed regulation of the sector a month after the ruling and was granted permission in August 2003 to recharge the fees.
The payments are being made following correspondence between Ms Foley and the bank, correspondence that ended with the bank confirming it was to return the money.
A spokesman for the bank, when asked, said the refunding of the fees had taken this long because legal advice had to be sought. He said the High Court ruling on the matter did not stipulate that the fees had to be returned.
The director, Ms Foley, yesterday urged the customers affected to check their accounts to ensure they got the money for fees charged for the two services between July 2002 and March 2003.
A statement from Ms Foley's office said she was "disappointed that legal action was necessary to compel the bank to act responsibly and refund the charges it was directed to refrain from imposing in July 2002".
The Business On-line customers are to get €1.637 million and the Amex Blue customers €145,445.
