Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Moloney for her presentation. I will move quickly to questions. These are the things small businesses have raised with me. It is probably the smaller businesses that have raised issues with me, for example corner shops and pubs which are still finding it challenging to do business. One of the issues raised seems like a simple one in many ways but it points to how precariously some businesses are operating. I refer to access to the lodgment of coins and the cost of that. There are only specific days on which the bank will accept coins. Some small businesses have pointed out to me that they can make lodgments on only two days a week in some branches. That in itself has an impact. A more recent issue pointed out to me relates to overnight lodgments or the "night safe". There is a longer delay with an overnight lodgment compared to a lodgment which is made in the bank in person the following day. Pubs in particular have pointed that out. It has led to them keeping cash overnight rather than using the night safe as they have to meet wages as they come up and so on. It may be a very specific and small area. I am not sure how widely the issue affects businesses.

Has anything been done to analyse interest rates for small and medium businesses compared to our European partners? Do we pay lower or higher interest rates in Ireland?

There seems to be a gap between deposit interest rates in Ireland and the interest rate charged to businesses. That gap appears to be larger in Ireland than it is in the rest of Europe. Why is that? Are we paying for the sins and mistakes of the banking sector? Is the bank trying to right its books by charging higher interest rates to small and medium businesses as well as larger ones?

I turn finally to risk analysis on loans. Is there grading in relation to risk analysis on the interest rates charged by the banks? If there is a higher risk, is there a higher interest rate and, if the risk is lower is the rate lower? What is the grading in the context of that risk analysis and what are the interest rates? I can see that there is not much of a gap between the products the banks offer. There are more lead-in products, but over a period of time, things very much even out. I may have the wrong sense, but is there a lack of competition between the banks in front of us today? Their interest rates seem to be a little on the higher side compared to mainland Europe.