Professor Philip Lane:

I will emphasise again that we have gone over and beyond. We agree with the Chairman that referring only to the legal framework is not sufficient. That is why we have gone beyond that framework in respect of our regulatory powers to push the banks into developing redress and compensation schemes, which will mean that more people will receive redress and compensation than would have been possible had we just left it to the ombudsman and the courts system to deal with this matter. We fully agree that it is not sufficient just to resort to legalistic interpretations. The motivation is strong within the Central Bank to ensure that our processes are not just pro forma. We are pushing back in order to ensure that as many people as possible receive reasonable redress and compensation payments.

It is very important to recognise that there is variation. Some banks have proactively signed up and conducted themselves in a reasonable manner. That is seen in the fact that thousands of cases have already been concluded in terms of redress and compensation. Other banks were slower but we have now pushed them into a situation in which we believe more redress and compensation schemes will be initiated very soon. We have also signalled that various cohorts of populations remain in dispute. It is not a one-size-fits-all response. We believe a lot of progress was made this year to get us to our current position. We should not have been required to push the banks to get this far. I do not want the message to be that not much has happened in respect of this situation. A lot has happened. There has been a lot of progress and much of it will crystalise into more payments to more people in the coming months. There remain outstanding issues.