Results 7,321-7,340 of 35,639 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Cuirim fáilte roimh na finnéithe chuig an gcoiste. Welcome to the committee. Unfortunately, it is in circumstances which we would rather not be in whereby both banks, after making hefty profits in this State, have decided to leave. Now, 1 million customers have to find a new banking home. I will direct my first comments to Ms Howard. Ulster Bank has started to issue letters and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Of the 985,000 accounts with your bank, both active and inactive, letters have issued in respect of 120,000. What are the projections for next month and the following months?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: How many months away is the end of September?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Ulster Bank is issuing roughly 80,000 letters a month. There are four months between now and the end of September. That would be 320,000 more letters, give or take, in addition to the 120,000 that have already issued. That means that half of the bank's customers will not get a letter.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: As opposed to accounts, how many customers, both active and inactive, does Ulster Bank have?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: We have those figures. There were 360,000 at the time and 155,000 have a deposit account but not a current account with Ulster Bank. That takes the total to 510,000. There are also 255,000 inactive accounts. That takes the figure well over 750,000. There are also 70,000 business customers, who may also have personal accounts. Even on those figures, there are 750,000 people who,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: That was one of the questions the committee asked Ulster Bank but the information was not supplied on the questionnaire. We asked for the schedule and the detail of how many letters would be issued.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Of the 120,000 letters that have been issued so far, how many were to customers who had personal current accounts?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: In a normal month before this decision, a month in which Ulster Bank was not withdrawing from the market, how many accounts would be closed? Bank accounts are closed and opened all of the time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Since the letters were issued, how many current accounts have been closed?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Since when? Is it since the date of the letters?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: We can see the number of accounts that have been closed in the questionnaire the bank has provided to us. Since March last year, 122,000 accounts were closed. Some 8,700 of those included in the numbers provided were closed by Ulster Bank itself. Is that not right? These are dormant accounts that massage the figures to make it look as if more individuals are closing their accounts. Some...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: We are aware of that. Of the accounts that were closed by individuals as opposed to the bank itself - that is 22,000 minus the 8,700, so approximately 14,000 - how many were closed through the switching process as opposed to the direct method?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Why is that percentage so low?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Is there any direction to staff in Ulster Bank to encourage people to do the direct move as opposed to the switcher process? The switcher process is obviously more labour-intensive from the bank's point of view and its agenda is really to get out of town as quickly as possible.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Last year, the Central Bank wrote to Ulster Bank to set out its clear expectations. Earlier this year, the director of consumer protection in the Central Bank, Colm Kincaid, said that banks are not where they need to be. Just yesterday, Ms Howard attended a round table discussion for CEOs. It is clear the Central Bank does not believe that the banks are up to scratch, in terms of where they...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Can I just ask a question? I do not contest the figure of 70% of people banking online or digitally. Many people will do transactions digitally but would Ms Howard agree that a large proportion of people, far more than 30%, open a bank account in-branch? The numbers provided to the committee from other banks which have seen accounts opened in recent months, such as AIB, show that a large...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: What happens six months after the letters that were issued on 13 April? Is it the case that these people will be frozen out of their bank accounts if they have not switched? They will not be able to withdraw money from an ATM, or pay standing orders and direct debits; is that not the case?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Okay. Thirty days after that, Ulster Bank will issue them a cheque if they have any money in their account. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I refer to customers who have overdrafts. We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, as I am sure Ms Howard is aware. Many families are pushed to the pin of their collar. What will happen to customers with overdrafts who have not dealt with them by that point?