Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

No. I have some experience of merchant banking. This is not a little old lady walking into the bank with a handbag containing €5,000 or €10,000. These are deposits of €3 billion and €4 billion, a total of €7 billion. The Minister describes this in a particular way. I would like him to take us through the process again. Why does he call the accounts "customer" accounts when they are major wholesale industrial deposits by other banks? Will the Minister agree this would be a big item on the bank's balance sheet?

The Minister said there was a back-to-back transaction.

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