Mr. Brendan Burgess:

No, that would probably be beyond my pay grade but over the last two years the ECB rate itself has fallen by only 0.15%. Two years ago it was 0.15% and now it is zero. While it has fallen by 0.15% rates have fallen by far more than that because with quantitative easing the banks are full of money. They have nobody to lend it to, or they will lend it at whatever rates they can get. I would be concerned that when quantitative easing stops and when mortgage rates rise - and if we do not fix this problem before the ECB rate starts to rise again - one can be quite sure that the banks are going to pass on every interest rate rise. Mr. Goor thought he was taking out a variable rate mortgage but KBC seemed to think that variable was only upwards. Mr. Goor could have fixed at the time and could have had the benefit of fixing, but he now has the worst of both worlds.