Dr. Colin Hunt:

Had we appreciated or anticipated the reaction, the proposal would never have been made. It was the reaction, which was unprecedented in terms of the volume of customer complaints, that made it abundantly clear to us very quickly that we were going to have to reverse course on this. We reversed course within three days of the initial proposal having been made. I regret that we caused concern and alarm for our customers. I heard our customers loud and clear. I heard with a volume I have never heard before. What we were trying to do was to do something fundamentally different. There are financial institutions across the world that are significantly reducing the size of their branch footprint, but we wanted to do something different, which was to remain fully embedded in the communities we serve. I have said on numerous occasions that the best brand ambassadors we have are the people who serve on the front line. We underappreciated the importance of cash. We heard the message; we got it loud and clear. We made the reversal and this is now settled business. I think on the morning of our results I said that we moved way too far, way too fast. I continue to believe that we got ahead of our customers. I think it is inevitable that banking is going to look different in 2030 from today. There is an inexorable move towards an increasingly digital offering, but we are not going to get ahead of our customers again. We did on this occasion and I am very regretful that we did and that we did cause that concern and alarm.