Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 10 July 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Matters Relating to the Banking Sector: KBC Bank

2:00 pm

Mr. Wim Verbraeken:

Until the operational parameters of Brexit, if it happens and when it happens, are clear, it is very difficult to judge. There will be direct and indirect impacts - I am not talking about Ireland - and it is very difficult to judge whether there would be a deepening impact on certain industrial sectors and whether that would trigger a more significant dampening of the quite favourable economic growth there has been in this country in recent years, and a psychological effect from that. Clearly, there are people who are focused purely on the potential benefits of Brexit, of financial services business moving to Dublin. I can understand why Dublin would be a place of choice. It is one of the reasons KBC Group made a choice to make this country one of its core markets. Overall, I believe Brexit, on aggregate, will have a negative impact on the Irish economy.

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