Mr. John Trethowan:

A personal guarantee scheme would have half of us going to it. When the Central Bank code was being reviewed, we made the comment that it was almost universal to be asked for a personal guarantee as well as everything else.

A banker lending a reasonable amount money would want some sort of security. A personal guarantee is only worth the assets one has to back it up. I could give a guarantee for €5 billion but it would not be worth a penny. If a small business or limited company has challenges or a lack of equity but there are some personal assets held by the promoter of the business, a guarantee can help get this across the line. I would be against a de factoor blanket request for personal guarantees. This is what was reflected in the response to the Central Bank and in that press article.

I am not seeing as many requests at the moment for appeals because personal guarantees have been asked for, although in the Red C survey, it is something like-----