Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 5 November 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform

Overview of Banking Sector: Bank of Ireland

3:15 pm

Mr. Richie Boucher:

Yes, absolutely. I agree completely. It has come down. As we have discussed with all our shareholders and stakeholders, the defaulted loans are still too high. The question of how the defaulted loans come down is a key criterion on which as a company we are judged by everyone. The first factor that is a contributor to this is to ensure - in so far as we can and the economy is a function of this - that the number of customers defaulting reduces. In each of our portfolios, the number of customers defaulted has reduced. Then, there is the absolute quantum of defaulted loans and what is one's provisional coverage. What is one's best estimate of one's loss against that? We hold provisional coverage of just under 50% of coverage against our estimate of potential loss, taking account of the collateral and so on that we hold. Then, we look at the defaulted loans and whether they themselves are reducing. Are the arrears coming down, are we holding sufficient coverage ratios and are there defaulted loans? It is still too high. It peaked in early 2013 and is reducing. It is a very significant metric and it is much too high.