Public statement relating to enforcement action against Gary McCollum

• Date: 22 June 2021

Enforcement Action

The Central Bank of Ireland

and

Gary McCollum

Mr William Garfield (“Gary”) McCollum, a Person Concerned in the Management of Irish

Nationwide Building Society, fined €200,000 and disqualified for a period of 15 years by the

Central Bank of Ireland for his admitted participation in breaches of financial services law

relating to commercial lending and credit risk.

On 10 June 2021, the Central Bank of Ireland (the Central Bank) imposed a fine of €200,000 on

Mr McCollum, disqualified him from being a person concerned in the management of a Central

Bank regulated financial service provider for a period of 15 years, and reprimanded him for his

admitted participation in breaches of financial services law in relation to commercial lending and

credit risk by Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS) that occurred between 1 August 2004 to

30 September 2008 (the Relevant Period).

Mr McCollum was Head of Commercial Lending (UK) and UK Branch Manager (Belfast and

London) during the Relevant Period. He has admitted to participating in significant failures by

INBS to adhere to its own policies at each stage of the commercial lending and credit risk

processes, resulting in poor risk management, ineffective governance and high risk lending.

Mr McCollum joined INBS in 1997, at a relatively early stage in its entry into the development

finance market. INBS’s strategy at the time was to build its commercial lending through repeat

business with high net worth individuals with whom it already had strong relationships. Fast

growth strategies and rapid credit decisions were the backdrop against which INBS’s

commercial loan book grew by 128% in value from around €3.6bn at the end of 2004 to around

€8.2bn at the end of 2008. A significant percentage of this exponential growth was related to

increased commercial lending in the UK through the branches for which Mr McCollum was

responsible. INBS’s UK commercial lending grew from €2.957bn in 2005 to €5.186bn in 2007

and comprised over 50% of the value of INBS’s commercial loan book in that period.