Professor Philip Lane:

The mechanism is that credit servicing firms have to be appointed which are subject to our regulations. These customers will also have the benefit of the code on mortgage arrears. What is also important to remember is that the types of loans these funds have bought. There could be a mix of how a firm treats arrears but, as time moves on, how long-term arrears cases are dealt with across the system. Over time, final solutions are necessary.

There may well also be differences in strategy. We released the mortgage arrears report a while ago where we did call out that these could have different strategies compared with local banks. That is true and a consequence of the different ownership. It is worth keeping an eye on.