Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 7 May 2015
Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis
Nexus Phase
Mr. Robert Gallagher:
No, Chairman, I'm ... well, I'm saying that every bank, Chairman, in this economy reflected the activities of the time in the economy, which were skewed to property. One of the challenges for all banks in this economy, which continues, Chairman, is that a lot of the industries which one would like to deploy capital to, don't require bank capital. So, for example, Chairman, foreign direct investment companies, broadly speaking, don't require bank capital from the domestic banks; broadly speaking, indigenous software companies or technology companies don't require capital; and, broadly speaking, heavy industry in the OECD world has migrated to the developing economies. So if you think in Ireland, in Britain, in any other OECD economy, the asset activity that consumes loan capital tends to be skewed to property. It's a challenge for the banking industry, Chairman.
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