Ms Jane Howard:

I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for inviting us to attend today's meeting. I am joined by Ulster Bank's director of corporate affairs, Ms Elizabeth Arnett, and our head of corporate and SME banking, Mr. Olaf Fitzsimmons.

I understand the committee is keen to get started, therefore, I will keep my opening remarks brief. Fifteen months ago, on 19 February 2021, we announced our phased withdrawal from Ireland and since then we have made significant, sustained progress. At every step we have kept the committee updated and have engaged with customers, the industry and a wide range of stakeholders.

I understand the focus of today's meeting is on the movement of current and deposit account customers to new providers. I would like to take a few moments to speak about our approach. We started our Choose, Move, Close campaign last year when we announced in October the details of our plans, providing customers and the industry with almost six months’ notice to prepare even before we commenced issuing formal letters to customers in April of this year. We very deliberately announced that while customers did not have to take action at that time, they would eventually have to close their accounts. Making that statement allowed us the opportunity to start a very important conversation.

Between October and April we led significant engagement with the rest of the industry, the direct debit originators and other important stakeholders such as groups representing older customers, the Money Advice & Budgeting Service, MABS, and the Department of Social Protection. We placed advertisements in national newspapers to ensure we reached as many interested parties as possible and held roadshow sessions to talk stakeholders through our plans. During this time we also undertook a number of proactive measures to ensure our most vulnerable customers and those who might need extra time and support were fully informed. We committed to keeping our branches open throughout this process. This front-running allowed customers, the industry, the direct debit originators and other stakeholders time to prepare for the formal start of our letters to customers.

On 13 April 2022, we began to write to customers on a phased rolling basis to provide them with six months' notice to choose a new provider, to move and to close their current and deposit accounts. At this time, I am happy to say the volume of activity is in line with our projections and we are not experiencing any operational challenges in our branches or telephony teams in responding to customers. Our letters are being issued in tranches to help facilitate orderly account switching and new account opening across the industry.

We understand that giving customers ample support is as important as giving them ample time to carry out the process, especially those with additional needs. While many customers will not need to come into an Ulster Bank branch, our branches will remain open throughout the process to ensure those who wish to can come in directly to us for face-to-face help. We have also offered to the industry the opportunity to be physically present in our branches and space on our website to help our customers open accounts and I am delighted we will start to see that support available in our branches this month. We have also launched comprehensive online customer support hubs for our personal and business customers, which are updated at every milestone.

This is an important step in the phased withdrawal of Ulster Bank and we recognise that for our customers, especially those who have banked with us for decades, choosing and moving to a new provider requires effort, time and support. Reflecting our unique footprint and history in Ireland, we have a distinct customer base, therefore, the plans we have put in place for this task are in response to that. We are taking a responsible and prudent approach, which includes regular monitoring and evaluation of the progress throughout this process. It is a priority for us that we do the right thing by our customers and colleagues as we support our customers to avail of an alternative financial provider. I thank the members of the committee and we will be happy to take questions.