Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 19 October 2022
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market (Resumed): Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland
Mr. Darragh Lennon:
To add to that in relation to the direct debits, we are engaged in similar industry initiatives. I will not run through them again but what we have seen is that when direct debit originators proactively communicate with their customers, that is very effective. When they approach their customers, point out they are paying a direct debit from a KBC or Ulster Bank account and ask them to take action, that is very effective. We have seen that with the Department of Social Protection in particular, which has conducted a really strong campaign with customers. We have seen our social welfare payments dropping by 35% in the first four months of our programme, which is very positive, and 90% of what we have left are child benefit payments. That is a positive as well in that the likelihood of vulnerability is lessening as we get through those. Some of the bigger utilities have done great work in terms of contacting their customers directly and asking them to close their accounts. When they do that, it definitely has a massive and positive impact. We are encouraging that through the BPFI groups, which meet every two weeks, and through our own engagements. We did an industry briefing where we brought all of the direct debit originators together two weeks ago. We are trying to share our plans with them so that they understand when these letters are going to reach customers and when the closures are going to hit next year. We are trying to keep them as well informed as possible so that we can make sure, as Ms Howard said, that this is a very orderly process.
No comments