Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a number of general questions. Mr. O'Connor said that AIB did €4.3 billion in lending in 2013, or approved €4.3 billion. How much of that was drawn down during the course of the year? What plans does AIB have to increase the draw-down rate? AIB's internal appeals mechanism has a 34% success rate compared to an average of 55% from the Credit Review Office. How many AIB cases were overturned by the Credit Review Office? One of the earlier speakers mentioned the number of cases overturned by the Credit Review Office. What percentage of those subsequently went into arrears?

I welcome AIB's comments on debt distress. It is the first bank to raise it as an issue. It is not the fault of this committee that small and medium enterprise lending does not get the kind of attention given to mortgage lending; that is the reason we have the witnesses before the committee. We may have to invite them back after today's meeting.

The Entrepreneurship Forum set up by Sean O'Sullivan published a report in January in which its members are particularly critical of the dependence of Irish banks on personal guarantees. They called it outrageous and said that Irish banks should begin to follow international standards on personal guarantees rather than continue what they have called "this current backwater behaviour". It is the contention of the entrepreneurship forum report that personal guarantees are in contradiction of the Central Bank code on SME lending. How much does AIB still rely on personal guarantees? For instance, how many of the 9,000 cases in its group would have personal guarantees in place?

I raise two other issues. Has AIB increased its standard bank charges to businesses be it for standard transactions or others in the past three years? Does it charge any special fees to businesses that might be in the FSG group? What level of fees are charged?

Mr. O'Connor mentioned the work under way in the buy-to-let market. How many outside agencies does AIB have assisting it with that? I am aware that PricewaterhouseCoopers is involved with it in that. What fees is AIB paying to outside agencies for the buy-to-let resolution process?

As one of the pillar banks AIB is crucial to the credit guarantee scheme, which has been a flop. The Minister will re-evaluate it. What suggestions will AIB give to try to make a success of the credit guarantee scheme?