Mr. Stephen Curtis:

The biggest issue is what the targets are made of. Let us look at the restructurings that have taken place. The December 2013 figures, which have been released, show that 22% of solutions are arrears capitalisations, but that does not solve the problem of someone not being able to pay his or her mortgage. Such an arrangement takes the arrears that the person has not paid and puts them back into the loan. Interest-only is not a long-term solution, yet it accounts for 13% of the solutions.

As my colleague said, sending someone a letter saying "Please sell your house" is deemed to be a solution, but it is not one. The targets are there and the bank can tick a box and say it is done and move on. It does not solve the problem or give anyone a sustainable solution, whether it is arrears capitalisation, whereby the person is back in arrears in six months', a year's or two years' time, or interest only, which gets reviewed and the person has not paid any of the mortgage at all.