Mr. Richie Boucher:

That will depend on, for example, the customers who are repaying debts. A significant number of our customers who have cash are paying down loans rather than reinvesting in their businesses. We are making provisions and, therefore, we write off certain of our loans. The stock may or may not increase. It is our ultimate goal to increase the stock of lending because this is what drives revenue from our perspective.

The most significant element of our new or increased lending is to existing customers for different purposes. Some of it involves other banks refinancing with us, including in particular customers of banks which are exiting this country. That is included in our figures. A customer who comes to us to refinance a loan from Bank of Scotland, for example, is included in our figures because this is a new or increased loan from Bank of Ireland’s perspective.

Loan demand varies across sectors and segments but the primary demand is for working capital. We have limited demand from customers for finance for mergers, acquisitions or new investment in property or equipment.