AIB is to refund an estimated €1.4 million to 34,000 student and graduate customers after it failed to apply discounts to their accounts.
The bank issued a statement on the matter this evening. It is the latest in a line of overcharging issues uncovered at the bank.
In its statement, the bank said that as part of its "comprehensive trawl" of pricing throughout its product range, it had discovered that "certain advertised discounts", which were available to full-time third level students and graduates, were not applied in all cases.
These discounts are in addition to the free current account banking, which all full-time students can avail of.
The Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA) was advised when the issue came to light, AIB said.
"AIB confirms that it is in a position to identify most cases where the discounts were not applied and that refunds will be made as soon as possible. The issue, which extends back to the mid-1990s involves interest rate discounts on overdrafts, car and travel loans and credit cards available to student and graduate customers.
The issue affects some 34,000 customers or about 15 per cent of the total customers in this category. The total involved before interest compensation is of the order of €1.4 million.
The investigation has also uncovered cases where former third level student and graduate customers received discounts for longer periods and sometimes for larger amounts than advertised. AIB will not seek to recover these amounts which are estimated at €400,000."
AIB admitted in May it had overcharged foreign exchange customers up to €14 million over a period of years. It has since pledged that all the money would be repaid.
Fine Gael's enterprise spokesman, Mr Phil Hogan, called on IFSRA to take "urgent steps" to restore consumer confidence in Irish financial institutions.
"The latest revelations about overcharging of third level and graduate accounts are very grave indeed. Meanwhile, AIB's approach to publicising this litany of scandals leaves a lot to be desired. I would go so far as to say that the bank's approach has been evasive. The credibility of the Irish financial sector is being jeopardised by these scandals, and all parties must take a mature and effective response, he said.
Labour's finance spokeswoman, Ms Joan Burton, questioned what more would be uncovered following AIB's series of disclosures.
"The entire Irish banking sector is rapidly losing the confidence of the Irish public. Despite all the scrutiny to which they have been subjected in recent years some in the financial sector have still refused to learn their lesson and are still prepared to squeeze every possible cent out of their customers by fair means or foul," Ms Burton said.
"This is a bank after all that makes an annual profit in excess of €1billion or more than €4 million profit each day yet they were still prepared to allow their customers, in this case many of whom would have been opening current accounts for the first time, to lose out through no fault of their own."