Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 28 May 2015
Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis
Nexus Phase
Mr. Patrick Neary:
I mean, I don't share Mr. Goggin's recollections of that meeting. The meeting was that I went to Mr. Goggin to tell him that we were introducing the higher weighting on the mortgages. Mr. Goggin's own business ... at that stage we were aware that, you know, he was ... they were well out there leading the pack in the market for 100% mortgages. And I ... I certainly don't recall any strong argument from Mr. Goggin to have the ... the product withdrawn. But in relation to the product itself, it was ... it was made clear very early on - in the early days of the Financial Regulator - I think the day of the launch of the Financial Regulator's first annual report, this question was posed in the ... in the press conference or the public conference launching the report: what about 100% mortgages, are you going to ban them? And the then chief executive was quite emphatic that it was not the role of the regulator to be banning products; that it was in conflict with the ... the view of the regulator, that a full choice should be given to people and that the emphasis should be on the way in which they were sold to people rather than banning the choice.
No comments