Mr. Gabriel Makhlouf:

Yes. The Department of Finance commissioned research on this not too long ago. I cannot remember precisely the conclusions of that research, other than the fact that there was no particular case for going down that road. I am not sure it was suggested that it was a bad or negative thing; rather there was no case for going down that road.

On the issue of competition, we do not have a mandate to promote competition. It is important to be clear on that. That said, we recognise that competition is very important for the Irish market. In our work, one of our objectives is to ensure that any new rules we introduce into the system are consistent with the orderly functioning of financial markets. It is the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission's job to be satisfied that enough competition exists in Ireland. The withdrawal of Ulster Bank and KBC is obviously concerning in the context of a competitive market. That is why we need to make sure that what we have seen in recent years, which is new entrants arriving, is encouraged and continues. My own view is that it is too early to do it this year but at some point, I would expect the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to ask the question as to whether there is enough competition in Irish retail banking.

Of course, the nature of the industry is changing. We tend to talk about full-service retail banks that offer the whole package that we are familiar with, but what we are seeing in the market is new players entering and operating in particular segments of the market. Whether that is the future and we will see growth in that, especially growth of fintechs, is an interesting question. Incidentally, I would distinguish between fintechs and crypto; they are not the same. From my perspective, at some point in the next few years, I would not be surprised if the competition authorities felt they needed to do a full review of the state of the market here.