David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the delegation for fielding our questions. One of the things banks need to do is to learn the lessons from the mistakes of the past. Mr. Boucher gave a general but helpful overview of where Bank of Ireland is now. When the Celtic tiger was in full roar, the banks were lending irresponsibly. There was far too much credit and money thrown around the place which fuelled the property bubble. We all know how that ended up for the banks and the rest of us. It strikes me that the banks are mirroring what is happening in the economy. Now, when we need capital and credit to be used as a tool to stimulate the economy, there simply is not enough of it. Maybe the banks are being too cautious. Does Mr. Boucher have a view on how cautious or not Bank of Ireland is now?

Mr. Boucher has responded to the ISME survey on SME’s gaining access to credit. He claimed he does not know what questions the survey asked. I find that incredible. If I were in his position, I would want to know what questions were asked and assess that survey. ISME was told there was a problem with credit access for SMEs. It carried out its survey and published its findings but Mr. Boucher does not know anything about it. However, he is confident that this analysis does not sit with his bank’s experience. Has the bank met with ISME to discuss this survey?

We need to break down what we mean about access to credit because that will determine the success rate. Access to credit could mean many different things.

Perhaps Mr. Boucher might outline the success rate for start-up capital. Has the bank broken down the issue of access to credit in that way? Access to credit means firms need start-up capital or funding and overdrafts to expand. What is the success rate on overdrafts? Are they being tightened up? Is that a problem for SMEs? Is the restructuring of legacy and bad debt considered an element of access of credit? The success of BOI's lending to SMEs and meeting targets very much depends on how access to credit is defined and perhaps Mr. Boucher will respond to that.

My third question relates to the number of SMEs on the bank's books experiencing debt distress. In simple terms, I would like a percentage of SMEs based on the EU definition of what constitutes an SME. Before Mr. Boucher answers that, he needs to tell the committee how the bank defines "debt distress" because that will determine whether we are on the same page. I would like to understand the bank's definition of an SME in debt distress.