Ms Derville Rowland:

What the Governor is saying about the Central Bank is really important. I do not want any view that we have taken a decision in support of the banks and against customers on prevailing rates. It is not to be weighted to the benefit of the banks. It is that we did not find enough for us to tip us into systemic action, but that is not a black mark against a consumer who has been put inside the redress and compensation scheme being able to bring their own case forward to say, "This is my prevailing rate. I don't agree with that for my personal reasons and I want you to hear what I have to say." We did not feel able to tip into action to change the scenario, but that is from a systemic perspective, which does not interfere with breach of contract or anything else that a customer would quite rightly want to say on their own part, for example, what he or she believed from his or her customer experience when he or she purchased the product from the bank. We would be a stranger to that and we would not have anything to say, nor could we.

People have every right to bring forward their own information about their view of the correct prevailing rate from their perspective, which may not have a systemic consideration for us, but because they are inside the redress and compensation scheme, they are entitled to do that, and where they feel it is right to do so, they should do that. However, it is from our perspective. We looked at this from systemic action and we did not feel able to tip the balance into interfering with that decision. However, it is not against the consumer, nor is it for the lenders.