Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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I have a question about the cash handling charge which has been referred to. I have a letter which was received by a constituent from AIB. It details the increases from a rate of 17 cent secondary rate and 25 cent primary rate, to 45 cent per €100, with effect from 1 July 2013. Mr. Fielding said that these letters stated that the customer had a right to choose whether to close the account.

I ask if we should make comparisons with the charges further afield than in the UK to see how they stack up. I note Mr. Fielding's comments that the asking price from some of the British banks may be higher but in practice they charge a much lower rate. This is a concern. Small businesses handle a lot of cash and the charges are an issue. The person who received this letter from AIB is one of those people. He is concerned about the implications for his business. There will be a certain increase in costs for those businesses. It seems like the banks are coming after them one more time. The banks were bailed out after the failure of the regulators and the Central Bank but they are coming back after the small businesses with this charge. The banks loan out the money they take in as deposits. They are making money out of lending.

The talk in recent months is about getting more capital for the banks. Surely this is a disincentive for people who will then avoid the banks. I am one of those people who try to stay away from the banks as much as possible. In fact, if I could stay away from them altogether I would be happy to do so.

They are now actively disincentivising people from going into banks. I ask Mr. Sheridan to address those two issues, because the sending of those notices to people running small and big businesses, who handle a great deal of cash, is providing a disincentive to go to the bank.