Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 1 December 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with KBC

Mr. Ale? Bla?ek:

I thank the Deputy. I will answer those questions. We are selling all of our assets. That is our intention. After we resolve all of our remaining liabilities on all of the issues, we intend to withdraw from Ireland.

On the other question, on the profits, I do not want to repeat all that I said in respect of the question from the previous speaker, but we have encountered substantial challenges in Ireland vis-à-vishaving sufficient sustainable return on capital. That is something which is important. It is driven by a number of factors. It is the competition in the Irish market and some of the aspects of the higher capital requirements for assets which we have to hold in Ireland. As I mentioned, it is also a function of structural changes that are taking place in other markets and in Ireland as well. Similar to us withdrawing from Ireland, there are other markets which experience such a similar withdrawal of other participants and they are selling their activities to their competitors. The consolidation is a trend which is taking place across retail banking. It is not specific to Ireland; it is a wider trend.

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