Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform

Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Ulster Bank

2:40 pm

Mr. Jim Brown:

I would like to add to that. In my opening statement I mentioned that we need to meet the targets. However, our focus through this whole issue has been on doing the right thing for our customers. At the committee's request, we have reported the numbers we sent to the Central Bank showing the various initiatives that we have got in place. One of the other key things we have focused on is ensuring that we address the early arrears issues to stop people getting into arrears in the first place. In the numbers we have given to the committee, members will also see on the right-hand side the total forbearance arrangements that we have made. Many of those are in early arrears and relatively short-term arrangements, maybe for short-term unemployment or something like that. The focus, however, has been on trying to stop arrears becoming a more serious issue for us to deal with as well.