Mr. Gerry Mallon:

There is no question over the long-term commitment of RBS to this bank and to its presence in Ireland. I joined the bank only this year and I would not have joined unless I was fully satisfied that, following conversations I had at every level of the organisation on this subject, it was core to the long-term strategy of RBS. Brexit has increased the strategic value of Ulster Bank within the RBS portfolio but nobody really knows what Brexit is going to look like. The future is very uncertain and there are all sorts of permutations, as well as speculation on what the impact might be. It certainly casts a question over the issue of the passporting of banking capability across borders. RBS has less of international presence than it had in the past but it does have customers and services which operate internationally so it needs to think about what its options might be should passporting rights be lost. It has a number of licences in Europe, in Ireland, in Germany and in the Netherlands, and we are a key and very real part of the strategic options that exist.