Ms MaryRose McGovern:

It is important to bear in mind that it is within the commercial discretion of any financial service provider what services to make available to its customers and how to capture that percentage of the market share it is targeting. Sometimes that will include physical branches and sometimes it will not. There are many financial service providers that have no physical branches and are quite popular among the population of Ireland, even though they may be passporting in from a different country. People's needs and requirements may change over time. The Chairman is correct that there are many people living in rural communities who may find it frustrating that they have to travel in order to gain access to a branch. I am very sympathetic to them but this office has no role to play in the nature of the services a financial service provider makes available.