Ms Francesca McDonagh:

As the Senator suggested, I will leave the politics to the politicians. With regard to our customers, we think about Brexit in two ways. We need to make sure we are resilient and ready as an institution, but the majority of our energy and day-to-day activity relates to supporting our customers. We do a monthly economic pulse. The March results showed that both consumer and business confidence were at a low ebb. Consumer confidence was at the lowest level we have seen since we started measuring it in the pulse four years ago. We have seen some rebound in respect of business confidence, but businesses, particularly SMEs, are very concerned by the uncertainty which Brexit represents. That is manifesting itself in many ways. Many SMEs are not necessarily cancelling, but deferring investment decisions. They are not buying extra capacity for their warehouses, employing more people, or replacing machinery because they want to see what Brexit will mean for them. It depends on the sector and the part of the supply chain in which the business operates. The sectors most exposed to Brexit, which the Senator mentioned, are those that are highly dependent of imports or exports and which are affected by volatility or lower margins. Where they are lower down in the supply chain, their ability to respond to that threat is quite limited.

We are speaking to our customers. We held over 250 events across the island of Ireland in 2018. We have a team of sector specialists focused on agrifood, health care, hospitality and those manufacturing firms which may be more exposed because they are located closer to the Border, either in the Republic or in Northern Ireland.

We have also launched a €2 billion Brexit fund. This is putting our money where our mouth is in terms of supporting customers at times when developing a contingency plan may require money. This should enable them to take on sustainable borrowing to support them during uncertain times. There will also be opportunities. Brexit may represent opportunities to develop into new and continental markets, moving away from the UK, or in acquiring manufacturing or production capacity in the UK as a hedge.

We have a €50 million unsecured foreign exchange fund for small and medium-sized enterprise, SME, customers who are exposed to foreign currency exchange to help them reduce that volatility which can eat into their margins. We continue to have point-in-time commentary. The Bank of Ireland website has regular videos and information guides for those exporting and importing about what to do. Being there for our customers, not just in the public sense but for one-to-one conversations, is a priority. We have the leading market share of SMEs and we are the largest lender to corporate Ireland. Having our relationship managers and our people in the front line speaking to customers during this uncertain time is a key priority.