Irish central bank fines RBS' Ulster Bank 4.6 million euros

DUBLIN, March 5 (Reuters) - Ireland's central bank fined Royal Bank of Scotland's Ulster Bank 4.6 million euros on Thursday for governance failings relating to targets the regulator set in 2013 to tackle then deep mortgage arrears across the sector.

The central bank said it found that RBS' Irish unit fell far short of the governance standards applicable to the preparation of regulatory returns and that it failed to implement effective oversight of return in relation to the binding targets.

It said it informed Ulster Bank of the failings around the compilation of its returns in 2013. Despite committing to taking action, the bank did not act to address the issues until 2015, which the central bank said added to repeated poor governance practices at the lender. (Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Toby Chopra)