Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

I am fully aware of the negative impact that Ulster Bank's technical problems are having on the bank's personal and business banking customers throughout the country. This issue has been ongoing for far too long at this stage and, as I have made clear already, it is essential it is resolved as a matter of absolute priority. From my perspective, it is totally unacceptable that it has taken Ulster Bank so long to solve the technical problems and that customers of the bank have been given mixed messages on when the problems will be resolved. My officials and the Central Bank are getting regular status updates from Ulster Bank and are closely monitoring the situation to ensure it is resolved as quickly as possible. In that respect, the Central Bank has officials on the ground in Ulster Bank to ensure immediate priority is given to the backlog issue and that all customer accounts are brought up to date as soon as possible.

The current focus is to get all transactions processed and, following that, Ulster Bank has said it will commence the process of refunding customers for any interest or fees and charges that have occurred as a result of this incident. The Central Bank has also indicated it will be putting in place a full restitution regime for all persons who have been affected and that it will work with the Irish Credit Bureau to ensure customer ratings are not affected.

The Central Bank met with the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform yesterday. The bank's representatives informed the committee it has already begun to scope out the parameters of an investigation into the matter with its UK counterparts. In that respect, the investigation is complicated by the fact that the payment processing system at Ulster Bank is, in fact, outsourced to its parent, the Royal Bank of Scotland, where the technical problems first arose.

All credit institutions are required to have in place contingency and business continuity plans to ensure they have the capacity to operate on an ongoing basis and limit losses in the event of severe business disruption. They are required to adopt policies and processes to evaluate and manage exposure to operational risk, including low-frequency, high-severity events. It is important that the Central Bank satisfies itself independently, as regulator, that these requirements are being met by other credit institutions to avoid similar problems elsewhere.

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