Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 26 September 2017
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Allied Irish Banks
4:00 pm
Mr. Bernard Byrne:
Yes. We have not announced anything at this stage so I am not in a position to confirm what it will be over the next while. People have benefitted already, as there have been three standard variable rate reductions in the EBS brand that I do not think would have taken place if they were an individual entity. It would not have been able to afford that position. Second, there is a switcher position that we have in place and we obviously cover the cost of switching, as we pay €2,000 for that. I made the observation that under regulatory requirements, we must re-underwrite if new credit is offered. For a customer with an existing position and where the customer has demonstrated the ability to pay down, the underwriting process should be relatively simple. That is the requirement we have. We would make it clear there is no incentive for anyone in the system to prevent that occurring.