Mr. John Trethowan:

The first thing we do is to seek information from borrowers on their situation. That includes looking for their financial accounts and any business plans they have. We will speak with borrowers regarding anything we can do to help them. My reviewers will typically talk to them on the phone, or visit. We also ask the banks for their reasons for declining and their views on the customers concerned, because there are always two sides to every story when one starts to research this. The reviewers then go away and try to find solutions to the borrowers' problems. In some cases, particularly with businesses that have invested some reserves into, for example, buy-to-let properties, such as a number of apartments, one must try to disaggregate the failed investment from the current business. In doing so, we can sometimes make a case for the core business to be supported and for the property debt to be parked.