Ms Jane Howard:

Absolutely. One of the commitments we have made to ourselves is that we would work closely for our customers and our colleagues throughout. Things that were important to our colleagues as time has worn on were certainty of dates as to when they would be leaving the organisation and open communication. How could we be as open as possible? They accept that we cannot always give them certainty. We need to see customer behaviour, for example, before we could give an indication of when we might be able to close the branches. We have worked very hard on communication.

We have many formal and informal opportunities for staff to make suggestions. We have changed many things because of the feedback we have had from our front-line and other colleagues. We carry out a formal survey once a year. That was improved. We had an external person. We tried to understand what it would look like for a bank that is withdrawing. I think it is fair to say that the engagement levels are very high.

As Mr. Jansen's bank has done, we have also put in place an attractive redundancy programme and package, including a €5,000 grant in order that people can upgrade or upskill if they want to go into another business. Overall our engagement with our colleagues is very good. That is not to say that we do not still have colleagues who are upset that we are leaving. However, they understand that the decision has been made. They have been doing a brilliant job in supporting our customers. They have also been doing a great job of looking after one another. We had the Covid pandemic and now we are leaving. I cannot praise these staff highly enough for how they have supported one another. Engagements are good.