Mr. A. J. Noonan:

I will deal with relationship managers and approval rates. The issue of approval rates is a subtle one because banks can say they have approved so many billions but the Deputy is right in that the terms and conditions attached to those approval rates are structured in such a way that banks can justify the rates but there is no danger of those loans ever being drawn down. Personal guarantees are one of the biggest factors because people are fearful of them. Overcoming that is very difficult because banks are fearful. I go back to the point I made to Senator Quinn, which relates to the fear within credit departments, how to get over that fear and what security and equity one can give. The more equity one can put into a deal, the less fear they have, which goes back to what Ms Callan was saying. It is a difficult one to manage.
The relationship manager issue is improving. In the 1970s and 1980s the branch manager had enormous power, which brought with it enormous responsibility. The banks decided, in their wisdom - we would not agree with it - to centralise lending, so one has bureaucrats sitting in some lending unit saying they do not like a particular project, knowing nothing about the people or promoters. This can lead to projects that are really weak getting funded because they look so good on paper, whereas the manager in the branch in Galway or Mayo could turn around and say "Your man's not hectic. It doesn't matter how good the figures are," and vice versa. I might let Ms Callan deal with upskilling and peer-to-peer lending.