Ms Francesca McDonagh:

We have the lowest non-performing, NP, as a percentage of our book of any bank in Ireland. This is an area that we have progressed very well. In working with our customers, we have an objective to get below 5%. We have not set a specific time or target but based on our progress to date, it is not unreasonable to expect us to be below 5% over the next 24 months. Unlike other banks we do not have a set target that has been defined by the regulator but we have made good progress. To date, our approach has consistently been to work with individual customers to find solutions when they face distress and that has proved to be successful. If the regulatory environment changes and if the regulatory capital that is attached to non-performing exposures were to change, we have the responsibility to keep our management of NPEs under review, as one would expect, for us to be dynamic and respond to market change. Our practice to date has not been to sell mortgage portfolios but to manage them individually with our customers.