Mr. Harald Felzen:

In Germany there are more than 400 Sparkassen. They are independent so I could only give an indication of the range of overdraft interest rates. I am aware that it varies between 7.5% and 12%. It depends on the individual Sparkasse. The Senator asked about the arrangement fees. This is a special fee that is only reckoned when companies have turnover of €25 million to €30 million. This is a very individual approach. Arrangement fees are not reckoned in any SME loan business activities of a Sparkasse. Above €1 million and up to other sums there would be possible arrangement fees but not in the SME sector for business loans. We have a four-year business plan in the proposal to Government for the Sparkassen model in Ireland. For the midland region, for example, we reckon we could sum up the business loans to 2022 to around €230 million. It depends on the economic strengths of the region so it could be more or less. We believe that after five years we can estimate €1.52 billion in business loans with eight to ten Sparkassen in Ireland. These are the correct numbers we have reckoned in the business plan in our proposal for the Irish Sparkassen model.

The Senator asked about key services. The Sparkassen model has a comprehensive approach. This means the banks offer all the financial services of a bank. There are no services we do not offer. We do mortgages, SME loans, transaction banking etc.