Mr. Jeremy Masding:

I should go right back in history. In early 2012, I was asked to review Permanent TSB. As I mentioned when before the committee previously, with the troika and the Government we looked at all the alternatives for Permanent TSB. These alternatives included resolution of the organisation, or wind-up as committee members might know it. We looked very seriously at a merger with another Irish financial services business. We also looked at trying to create a focused Irish domestic retail bank.

Each of those alternatives was examined through a quantitative and qualitative lens to a level of detail which I think would pass any due diligence. It was decided that the most value creating alternative was to allow Permanent TSB to compete in the Irish market. Since then, we have done all we can. The team has done a great job and created an organisation that is now alive and vibrant. We were profitable for the first time in ten years. We have now deleveraged all of our non-core business and we are competing hard in the market. At this point there are no conversations taking place around merger-acquisition. To be frank, they would be a diversion. What we need to do now for the benefit of the Irish consumer and the Irish taxpayer is grow this bank profitably, and we are confident that we can do so.

In regard to some of the hiccups that arose along the way, the return on equity, ROE, was a benchmark target against other peer banks in 2014. Since then, the industry has suffered from a combination of factors, including low interest rates, a high regulatory cost burden and some geopolitical risk, all of which come through into our business. In regard to the 10% ROE, I imagine that the ROE that we are targeting now is well within the peer group range. I am confident that investors are comfortable with where we are going. In regard to the share price, it is true that it deteriorated but that happened because of many factors which were outside of our control. In recent times, following reporting of profitability, deleveraging of CHL and showing the market that we are confident about the future of this organisation the share price has rebounded strongly.

It should not be forgotten that Permanent TSB is the only nationalised bank to undertake an IPO. We did that in nine months. We crossed the globe and presented our value story to investors and we were massively over-subscribed such that confidence in Ireland and Permanent TSB was strong then and remains strong now. Last week, I was in US for a meeting with our American investors. The feeling is one of optimism, particularly now that we have deleveraged CHL. The investors now believe that this management team is ready to deliver on the promise it made to them about a profitable Irish domestic retail and SME bank. Therefore, I remain confident to today. Any discussions about an inorganic transaction would be an absolute distraction that I do not think is required at this point in time.