Dr. Colin Hunt:

I was not seeking approval, it was a commercial decision on the part of the bank. We went through the appropriate governance structures within the bank and we were giving advance notice that the announcement was coming. So it was not a case of me seeking approval. As to whether I was surprised at the political reaction, it is safe to say I was very surprised at the customer reaction. That is what was uppermost in my mind because as I said what we had a volume of complaints come in, the like of which I have never seen before. Within 24 hours of the announcement being made, as the letters landed within individual customers' houses, they made it abundantly clear to us that they did not want this to happen.