Mr. Sean Hosford:

To go back to basics - the magic answer - our current difficulty is essentially that the bulk of loans on our loan books are unsecured. Some balance needs to be brought to our loan books. As Mr. Johnson rightly says, the loan-to-share ratio nationally is between 25% and 30%, which is quite low. We have an amount of money to lend. Our traditional market has been the personal loan market, involving loans with terms of under five years. We need to look beyond that.

On the housing market and risks attached thereto, we have all learned a salutary lesson. There are risks in the personal loan market. Lending is risky, full stop.