Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Fingleton, in the core documents of Vol. 1, again on page 5, it states that over the period 2001 to 2003, Nationwide increased its level of commercial lending by over 60%. This was a source of concern for the regulator, that the society did not have the appropriate skill sets or controls in place to effectively manage this exposure. On page 47 of the core booklet that you have in Vol. 1, we see that by September 2008, 80% of INBS's loan book was in commercial property and 81% in land and development exposure was in speculative property activities. Do you think that this was an appropriate lending strategy for Nationwide, as a building society, in which to engage?