Professor Philip Lane:

That sounds about right. It is important, but not massive in terms of the overall balance sheet. In terms of the bond market and the way the banks were issuing bonds in the mid 2000s, they were doing all sorts of things. There were dollar, sterling, senior and subordinated bonds. This may go beyond the scope of what members can do in this inquiry, given the amount of time they have.

The treasurers of the banks, in terms of the mechanics in a given period, may have chosen to do a mortgage-backed security issuance or a straightforward unsecured bond. They, in turn, would have been interacting with the global banks who would have been the advisers and would have outlined the cheapest ways to raise funding in a month or year. Others can answer questions better than I can on that level of mechanical detail on how banks design and raise funding. Broadly speaking, one category in which people were interested was asset-backed securities. There are many different elements to how banks raise funding. Did the Deputy's information refer to the covered banks or did it also include what went on with Ulster Bank and so on?