Ms Jane Howard:

We tried to cover colleagues and customers, so now I will come to that question. In terms of the reviews that we have conducted, there is a strategic review and it is a continuous activity, not just in our banks but, I would imagine, in all industries when the pace of change is so fast. Goldman Sachs acted as an adviser to NatWest. I do not have much more detail than that on it. I do know that the strategic review considered a range of strategic options. Now that we have a decision, my purpose, as the CEO here, is absolutely on ensuring that we withdraw safely and in an orderly fashion, and help two core objectives. One is to help our customers to move to a new bank as safely and as seamlessly as possible. Two is to minimise job losses, and where we cannot, to support our colleagues with reskilling on an individual basis in terms of what is right for them. Goldman Sachs acts as adviser to NatWest to support it in the strategic review.

The decision was made because Ulster Bank is not able to generate long-term returns at an acceptable level, and I recognise that. That is not a new thing. It has been a challenge for us over recent years. One of the biggest factors is negative interest rates and low interest rates which make it a bigger challenge in terms of income. Also, on the costs side, we are competing with new entrants and it is important that we have things like a mobile app, the ability to purchase a home online, and other technological capabilities to compete with those dimensions. As I would see it, one of the bigger issues we face is the income challenge, which is not helped in an environment with very low and negative interest rates that looks like it is going to continue over the longer term. Would Mr. Stanley like to add a comment?