Mr. Ed Sibley:

There is a range of products and pricing in the market. There is a degree of differentiation in bank strategies in that some are still heavily lending at variable rates with others, as mentioned already, being more focused on a fixed rate perspective. An important factor in terms of pricing of mortgages, which is not touched on in the Bill, is credit risk. Credit risk in Ireland is very elevated because of the very high levels of default and, from a secured lending perspective, the difficulty in terms of effecting that security, which is at a much lower rate in Ireland that in the majority of other eurozone countries. This causes problems from a secured lending perspective. Unsecured lending rates in Ireland are much higher than secured lending rates. There are now options available to the vast majority of borrowers. I would strongly encourage borrowers to look at the options available to them. This is part of the work that the Central Bank is doing in regard to the measures that come into force on 1 February next. Borrowers will have the ability to choose to save money on their mortgages today. As I said, overall in terms of SDI borrowers more than 80% of them can save money by switching. This could have a material affect and save them tens of thousands of euro over the lifetime of the mortgage.