Professor Philip Lane:

We have always been clear there have been all sorts of tracker contracts, some with a fixed margin and others where the margin could change. This goes back to the issue of the prevailing rate being that at the time someone rolled off a fixed mortgage and was looking to return to a tracker. This is the difference in interpretation. Our assessment is the rate at the time of roll off in autumn 2008 or early 2009, when trackers were not being offered but should have been offered. We are clear that those customers should have been offered a tracker. The assessment of the rate at which it should have been offered was in excess of the variable rates at the time.