Mr. Eamonn Crowley:

We made a public commitment, which I reiterate, to maintain our current branch network. When one looks at the Ulster Bank network and ours, we have many branches which are close to each other but there are other locations where we do not have a branch network. We are making a commitment to our branch network. We see our branches as being a core part of how to do business and see them as being core to the communities in which we operate. We see that customers appreciate that but they also understand the types of services we offer in branches are changing. Naturally, more transactions are going online but there is an added benefit for customers to come into a branch or indeed for our branch staff to go and visit customers in their home in the locality in order to assist them with mortgage applications, business applications or business banking. We therefore see the absolute importance of the branch network as part of what we offer and where we are today.