Mr. Ger Deering:

The key thing in that instance, as with everything we deal with, is around communication. If somebody ended up with a difficulty in that particular area and made a complaint to us, we would look at the information that was provided. Was the customer clearly informed at the time when, say, they went into a fixed rate that they are now having difficulty with? The consumer protection code provides certain levels of information that is supposed to be provided to people. The CCPC and the Central Bank have done a lot of work on switching codes and trying to encourage consumers to make themselves aware. Unfortunately, there are two sides to this. Very often the information is given to consumers and they do not necessarily always absorb it or they want to do a particular thing at a particular time. We say it is absolutely incumbent and essential for a financial service provider to give consumers all the information in a very clear way but equally, the consumer needs to take that on board and consider, when they make these decisions, what the best course of action is for themselves. I appreciate that is not a level playing field when it comes to the knowledge that the consumers have but it is critical that the information is provided in a clear and simple fashion to people.