Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Masding for his extremely interesting statement. I have questions on some elements of his statement. Perhaps he will elaborate on some of the things he said in his statement.

On page 2 of the statement, Mr. Masding offered the example of Customer A who pays the mortgage in full and Customer B who clearly has difficulties. The latter is unable to pay the mortgage in full, on time and in accordance to the conditions. He stated:

The same problem - that all customers will not be treated equally - arises in respect of individual deal arrangements. It is a real moral hazard.

In the context of a lot of the previous discussion, it might be helpful to us if we could understand, or certainly if I could understand, the bank's definition of a "real moral hazard". Is it an ethical, financial or social concept? Even though today's statement is one of the clearest statements that I have ever heard being made by a banker, which included examples of a moral hazard, I must confess that I still do not fully understand it. I ask Mr. Masding to start by defining what he and his bank mean by the term "real moral hazard".