Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

With the withdrawal of Ulster Bank and KBC from the Irish market, and the recent announcements that Bank in Ireland intends to close 103 branches and that Permanent TSB is withdrawing cash services from 44 of its branches, there is no doubt that the banking sector is in a deep state of change. This will leave Irish customers with only three full-service banks to choose from, which will have a significant impact on individuals and business customers throughout the country, especially the elderly and those in rural areas where poor broadband may not allow an easy transition to Internet banking.

Banks here have been slow to do show genuine progress and integrity when it comes to serving the public. The Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman lodged 2,782 eligible complaints against the banking sector in 2020, with more than half of them related to mortgages, showing that Irish banks have plenty to do to change the way they do business.

The Irish banks have also had plenty of opportunity to improve their technology but this uptake has been slow while many other countries have shown how technology and digital offerings can be transformative and, in turn, improve the experience of their customers. We have been told of a proposed instant payment app, which I have been informed may be used by the three remaining banks to close ranks and use exclusionary tactics to keep new challenger banks out of Ireland, reducing customer choice and competition. The European payments initiative is looking to build an instant payment standard with more than 30 lenders taking part in its development. Questions need to be asked as to why AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB want to go it alone.Could it be that by developing their own app they will have full control of which lenders are allowed to join the instant payments system while also discouraging other entrants to the Irish banking sector by excluding them from this app? In the guise of offering instant payments, they are acting in their own interests. Once again, it will be the public and businesses that will suffer the lack of competition. I ask the Leader to organise a debate with the Minister for Finance on this issue in the coming months.