Mr. Brendan Burgess:

To be fair to it, the Central Bank had the same attitude then as it has now - pricing is a matter for the bank concerned. The Central Bank would probably intervene now if banks were to start offering loans at unsustainable rates leading to great losses. I think it would intervene because of the increased regulation and new solvency rules whereby when the capital requirement is worked out, it is also based on the level of profitability of the bank concerned. If it were to lose money, the Central Bank would intervene.