Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is interesting that Dr. Lajoie mentions this. AIB was probably a good example in terms of its attempts to withdraw cash services. Those main street banks are susceptible to public pressure. It is why they spend money on advertising and on sponsorship. It is because they want us to feel good about their business and because they want people to open their children's accounts with them. They want us to open the account with them for the farm, or take out a car loan, the mortgage or life insurance with them. They want us to do that, whereas a lot of these vultures have no interest in that. They are just picking from the carcasses of the main banks, in the main, despite the fact that they are looking at refinancing. That is always a problem. This is why it is a very dangerous place to have those long-term products and products that are so important to people, if it is from some entity that is only interested in one thing, which is the bottom line and trying to recoup as much as possible.

I will move on. The witnesses mentioned that nonbanks can also act in a manner that further penalises customers and consumers. Will the representatives from the MABS give the committee an example of that further penalisation, as was said in the opening statement?