Mr. Gerry Mallon:

At the time of that serious IT incident I was running a competitor bank and I did my very best to steal as many customers from Ulster Bank as possible. I was ultimately frustrated in that because of the bank's very loyal customer base and the phenomenal performance of the staff, primarily in branches, to help customers. They went above and beyond the call of duty in helping customers. It was primarily the efforts of the staff in the branches, on the front line, that allowed the bank to overcome that crisis. RBS has put a very substantial investment into repairing the IT system and ensuring such a serious incident will not happen again. The technology platform is in a very different position from where it was at the time of that incident.

The branch network is incredibly important to the bank. It is one of the most important channels. Our customers have told us they like talking to people. They like the staff in Ulster Bank. Ulster Bank has managed to differentiate itself from competitors in the market by providing superb customer service at the front line. Having said that, customers are using the branches less and less and they are using them for different things. They are telling us that it is important to interact with our staff when they have an important transaction to carry out, like securing a mortgage or personal loan or when there is some other change in their lives and they need help from the bank. They are using the branches less and less for the more mundane transactions like paying bills or lodging cheques and so forth. The branch network needs to reshape to be able to adjust to the fact that people are doing things in different ways. In the future there will be fewer bank branches in the same way that there are now fewer travel agents and record shops. Consumers have voted with their feet in that context.

As a consequence of that, I cannot give Senator Horkan a definite number. The way in which the technology has evolved makes it incredibly unpredictable. There has been more change in the past five or six years than in the previous 50 or 60. When I started working in the banking industry, there was a 1970s model of banking still in place. Banks were still closing at 3.30 p.m. and not opening before 10 a.m. It was all very manual and paper based, but that has changed completely in the time I have been working in the industry. I cannot forecast how much more that will change over the course of the next few years.

All I can say is that we do two things. The first is that we keep everything under review in order that we ensure we are giving customers what they need. Second, we take extreme cognisance of the position of customers or particular cohorts of customers. We take cognisance of rural customers and the impact of any proposed changes on them. We also take cognisance of elderly or other vulnerable customers and try our very best to ensure that where we cannot keep unsustainable branches open, we at least protect them or mitigate the effects in every possible circumstance.

We cannot do that in the long term, but we will consider where to protect and mitigate in every circumstance.