Ms Gráinne McEvoy:

The committee is familiar with the Central Bank’s consumer protection framework. In 2009, we introduced a code of conduct on mortgage arrears, which was of particular importance because we recognised that a number of borrowers had come through the financial crisis and were in financial distress. That code sought to introduce protections for borrowers who were in or facing arrears and it placed many obligations on lenders, particularly that lenders have in place fair and transparent processes and that they consider each individual borrower's case on its own merits and on a case-by-case basis. It is quite specific in terms of how lenders, be it banks or non-banks, engage with the borrower up to and including assessing their individual financial position and working with them to come to an arrangement that may, as the Deputy noted, allow them to continue to remain in their homes while still paying back their mortgages.

More importantly, as Mr. Sibley alluded to earlier, in 2015, when we saw a trend emerging of banks selling on loans to non-banks, we very much advocated for the introduction of the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Act 2015, which ensured that the protections afforded under the CCMA follow with the borrowers. Irrespective of whether people are borrowing with a bank or a non-bank, the protections exist and remain. Furthermore, we undertook and published a review last year on the effectiveness of the CCMA. Our findings were very much in the public domain and very much found that, for borrowers who engage with their lenders, the CCMA is working as intended.

Mr. Sibley referenced these data earlier. There are more than 110,000 restructured arrangements. In 87% of those cases, the borrowers are meeting the terms of the arrangements and the arrangements are working for those borrowers. Our review also found that banks and non-banks are engaging with lenders, are continuing to put arrangements in place and are honouring existing arrangements. Where a loan has been sold by a bank to a non-bank, existing arrangements are honoured. We feel there are many protections in the existing consumer protection framework that keep borrowers in or facing arrears at the core of the process and protected.