Mr. Jim Brown:

Over the past five years, we have lost a considerable amount of money on mortgages in the Republic of Ireland. Separately, a dialogue has been going on in the market that somehow the standard variable rate, SVR, is tied to the ECB rate which then determines margins. This is not the case. A number of factors need to be taken into account when determining the profitability or otherwise of a mortgage. Because we operate on both sides of the Border and in the UK, we know the SVR for a similar type of product to a similar type of customer is very similar in Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales and the cost to fund it is very similar. Although the rate might vary by 20 basis points, so does the cost of funds. Clearly, we do not have the same information about Europe. The margin on all those loans is very similar, as Mr. Stanley said earlier, approximately 3%. A number of costs are incurred in providing mortgage, including capital, the cost of funds, operating expenses, the cost to service mortgage arrears, credit losses and levies. Despite the fact that the margins are the same, the cost to provide all of those imports in terms of servicing a mortgage is higher in this market than in other markets in which we operate.