Mr. Klaus Regling:

Looking at the data - some of them are produced in the report - the Senator will see on page 32, for instance, the increase in loans for construction and property. It is just striking how many loans went into the sector, with unprecedented growth rates. To an observer from the outside - Max Watson and I were outsiders when we came to Dublin - it would indicate that alarm bells should have been ringing loudly and clearly among the banks themselves, their supervisory bodies and the supervisors, the central banks. Obviously, it did not happen.