Ms Derville Rowland:

We made clear from the outset our expectations on communication with customers who are impacted and affected and it does not sound like that case is meeting our expectations. I would like the Senator to provide me with details of that. I will make sure, as we do with all issues that come to our attention, to follow that up because that does not accord with what we have clearly set out in the framework and expect to happen. We were clear that adequately resourced communications needed to be set up with customers and I am disappointed to hear about that. As the tracker mortgage examination moved through to delivering a lot of results for people, it is true that some of the complaints by people who were concerned were not being progressed because they were waiting to hear the outcome of their cases. Many people have received information and payments to date but we have been clear with lenders that we know and they know when we do not have an issue and they need to get on with dealing with complaints. We have communicated that specifically to them and did so again recently. We have also been in communication with the ombudsman to reiterate that we have no difficulties with some of these complaints being dealt with and it is only a narrow subset of issues that the lenders and the Central Bank are aware of which we must continue to keep under review.

The vast majority of complaints can be dealt with. Lenders are aware of that and the FSO is now very clear about it too. We do not expect them not to be answered.