Ms Francesca McDonagh:

We want to give our customers choices and options. Many customers, young and older, like the convenience of using contactless transactions and going online, but not every customer will. I have worked in other markets in other banks where they have tried to eradicate cash or cheques. This is done to the exclusion of some customers who will always want to use cash and cheques. Even though we want to offer our customers improved service, the fact that we have increased the full service branches by 160% is a response to specific and strong customer feedback. We are moving with the changing preferences and habits of our customers, younger and older, and we see a very big shift towards digital use. We have no plan, however, to remove cash or cheques if some of our customers continue to use them. This is the reality of the market we serve and we have to respond to that.