Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 18 May 2022

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

Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland

Mr. Brian Hayes:

It is a fair point. That is something we are going to do. We want to do two things with the campaign. The CCPC has a very good campaign at present, which I am sure the Deputy is aware of, and we wanted to ensure that was doing its job. Our campaign is around the dos and don'ts on the switching side and on the moving side, and to make sure people are aware.

To the Deputy's point, Ulster Bank is seeing about 10% of its customers using the switching code. It gave that figure in evidence to the committee. One of the advantages of the switching code, at one level, is that people see, from the remaining bank and the exit bank, where exactly things are coming from. The dilemma is, if there is a significant number of DDOs as part of the transaction, someone could be left stranded high and dry, or in a circumstance at the end, where if an individual uses his or her account at the end of the process it could nullify the whole exercise. I hasten to add Ms Byrne has much greater expertise on this than me.

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