Mr. Ale? Bla?ek:

I thank the Deputy for his many questions. They will require comprehensive answers. I will try to answer all of them. As mentioned, we entered into a binding contract with Bank of Ireland on 22 October. That agreement covers all of the performing assets; €8.8 billion of assets of KBC Ireland. It also includes the deposits which are in our portfolio. There are assets, performing assets, and deposits, and the assets are primarily formed by mortgages. As soon as we signed the contract with Bank of Ireland, we entered into detailed migration talks, through which we are dealing with the technical aspects of the transfer of those assets to Bank of Ireland. Those discussions are continuing and we probably will have results of those discussions in the near future.

In respect of the CCPC, we have entered into the second stage of the review by the CCPC. Both Bank of Ireland and KBC Ireland are providing full co-operation with any questions or inquiries the CCPC has.

That dialogue is continuing as we speak in a written format. It is hard to assess when the CCPC will make a decision regarding this procedure because it depends on whether the CCPC requires additional information. If it does, the certain period may be stopped while that information is required. We assume, which assumption may not be fully correct, that at the beginning of the second quarter next year we will know the resolution or decision of the CCPC on this review.

As I mentioned at the beginning, this transaction is still subject to that approval. If the approval is not provided, the transaction will not proceed. If approval is granted, we assume those assets will be transferred in the second half, more likely in the fourth quarter, of next year. That depends on when we receive the necessary approvals and on the details of how the assets will be migrated.

The last part of the Deputy's question related to competition in the Irish market. I will answer it more broadly to explain what is happening not only in Ireland but in banking more broadly. Banking, including retail banking, is undergoing a massive change. I think the Deputy called it seismic and that is correct. There is a huge transition to digital and to a model where banking products are not only provided by banks, but also by fintechs operating across the European Union and more broadly internationally. Then there are the financial services and banking provided by big techs. Retail banking 20 years ago was provided largely by retail banks but that is not the case any more. Retail banking is provided by many participants, including retail banks, but there are niche providers in each segment, such as payments, accounts and loans. Today the customer has a much broader choice of where to purchase financial banking products than 20 years ago. Consolidation in the retail market is taking place everywhere, including Europe, the US and many markets in Asia. It is driven by the technological changes and other big shifts which I mentioned.

To return to the Irish market, I believe the Irish customer has an abundance of choice in all the products he or she wants to acquire, whether accounts, payment cards or loans. It is through retail banks and also through new entrants, new banks, big techs and others.