Mr. Niclaus Bergmann:

To start with, we have to clearly define the business region, that is, the area that has to be covered. The business plan we have made for Ireland makes it clear that the region should have between 200,000 and 300,000 inhabitants. Setting up a local bank only for a small community would be difficult to run in a sustainable way. We have to find the right region - this is what we did with the midlands. There would be four or five branches in the region so that it would not be too far for everyone to get access to his local bank. Most important, the local bankers will know where their clients are living and what their circumstances are – they need to know their clients. It does not make much sense if a loan application for a small enterprise is being processed somewhere in Dublin, or, even worse, by a computer system.