Mr. Simon Crone:

It would be a lender-paid product which is how it works across most jurisdictions around the world today so the lender bears the cost of the insurance, normally in the form of a single upfront cost. The price depends on the terms and conditions of the product, the duration, the size of the cover, the depth as we call it. In a typical example on a €200,000 mortgage in Ireland a single upfront cost, a one-off payment from the bank would be somewhere in the order of €2,000. If that was transferred to the borrower in full as part of the interest rate that is charged on the mortgage it would end up being around €250 a year. The bank would obtain many potential benefits, in terms of reducing its capital and provisionings and therefore the full cost may not need to be passed on to the consumer. In the worst case it is €250 a year. It takes many assumptions into account.