Mr. Ed Sibley:

This is consistent with what we were engaging with the banks about back in 2010. We have asked for clear strategies in order to bring down NPLs and the planned operational capabilities to deliver on those strategies. There is no requirement to hit a European average by the end of 2019. The European average is used as a benchmark to measure levels of non-performing loans, if banks are above and below that mark, but it is not a hard target those banks are required to meet.

Much work is being done on non-performing loans and their categorisation, including by the European Banking Authority, and on provisioning of non-performing loans to ensure that sufficient provisions are held against those loans. I am sure that is affecting the pressure, while the potential need to take additional provisions is affecting banks' desire to address the issue quickly, given that they are incurring additional costs as a result. It is probably in their interest to reduce the number of non-performing loans more quickly but there is not a hard target.