Mr. Liam McLoughlin:

Deputy Calleary asked a question about coin lodgement charges. Our charges have not changed in this phase but our modus operandi is one where in support of the national payments plan we support the move towards electronic transactions and a reduction in coins and cheques in use in the economy. Clearly our fee structure certainly for personal customers favours automated transactions over coin and cash. We are making the process in branches more efficient. There is more self-serve for customers to make the process of coin, cash and cheque lodgement much more efficient. The move is towards supporting the national payments plan.

Deputy Tóibín asked a question about our branch footprint and access to SMEs. The bank took a significant, strategic position 18 months ago on our branch footprint. We have 250 branches across the country and we are strategically supportive of the branch footprint. We have not closed rural branches across the country. We have a requirement to make sure those branches remain commercially viable and that they are run efficiently and we strive to work towards that as well. As long as local businesses support the branches our objective is to make them all viable.

Another question related to SME training. We have an ongoing training programme for staff in SMEs on the job. The best training one gets on the SME sector is in the collections area. We have a lot of people working in the growth area. Initially, they work in growth but then go back to collections. Growth is very much part of our future plan. We work with the professional courses that are organised by the Institute of Banking in particular the professional diploma in SME lending that it introduced 18 months ago. A number of staff have gone on the programme.

Deputy Calleary is no longer present but he inquired about the credit guarantee scheme. There are challenges with the scheme. We agree that the number of cases that have gone through it is not sufficient. We have an automatic process in the bank where if a credit has been refused the customer is referred to the microfinance scheme for example. The credit guarantee scheme is also promoted to customers as well and we can come back with suggestions in terms of input to the debate on how that can be improved.