Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome Mr. Brown and his colleagues and I thank him for his opening remarks. I was disappointed with the questionnaire Ulster Bank returned to us. The bank appears to have taken a minimalist approach in terms of the responses. The bank cited commercial sensitivity eight times as a reason for not answering the questions. It was the last response we received from any of the banks. I have to say, regrettably, that I regard it as being of the poorest quality. At times the bank provided web links instead of copying the information, forcing us to go and look up various web pages. That is disappointing, and I am unsure why the bank took that approach. Anyway, that is my honest observation.

I will start by asking Mr. Brown about the fine from the Central Bank of €3.5 million in respect of the information technology failure that occurred in the summer of 2012, which was obviously a major issue for bank's customers. It was a damning finding by the Central Bank against Ulster Bank. It found that the bank failed to have robust governance arrangements in respect of IT systems and that this threatened confidence in the operation of the retail banking sector. The Central Bank said that outsourcing was no defence for regulatory failings. It saw fit to impose the highest fine it has ever imposed and it reprimanded the bank. Ulster Bank has accepted the findings. What steps have been taken since then by Ulster Bank and its parent company to address the underlying causes of the crisis?