Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 4 April 2019
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Matters Relating to the Banking Sector: Bank of Ireland
Mr. John O'Beirne:
We have absolutely no issue once people return to Ireland. We lend to many people who have just returned, whether new immigrants to Ireland or Irish people returning home. In recent years 1% to 2% of applications have been from people returning to Ireland or people who may have worked overseas. We work on a case-by-case basis when underwriting those applications and look at each individual involved. The types of questions we ask include are applicants in a type of career or work practice that is suitable to the employment environment in Ireland and what is the common salary payable for a job here compared with overseas. We have paused some of that activity in recent months because we want to make sure we are compliant with all regulations as we look to our obligations in other jurisdictions. While we are very comfortable with all the lending we have done to date, we do need to look at what is ahead and make sure we are up-to-date with people resident in the UK, for instance, or in other markets.
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