Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 51: To ask the Minister for Finance his views on whether Irish banks have sufficient staff numbers with the skills necessary to deal with impaired and loans of deteriorating quality. [25635/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I have received the following information from the Irish banks:

AIB

AIB is currently managing its impaired loans and loans of deteriorating quality and is further developing its dedicated resources in this regard. At the end of Q1 2012 in the mortgage area, AIB had approximately 200 staff in the "Dedicated Arrears Support Unit" and expect to double that number this year. A recent contract with Certus will also support customers in difficulty. In the SME area, AIB currently has approximately 1,000 staff dedicated to working with customers in difficulty and expect this to increase further in 2012.

Bank of Ireland

SME Banking

Staff Numbers:

· In recognition of the deteriorating market conditions, in 2009 Bank of Ireland restructured its Irish Business Banking units and established specific Challenged Teams to focus on managing challenged SME loans.

· A separate strategy and operating structure is in place to manage customers of the Bank's Irish Business Banking units with impaired loans or loans of deteriorating quality.

· Staff members working with Challenged portfolios are responsible for a small portfolio of clients and are the dedicated contact point for customers of these units.

· For those in the Challenged Teams, a specific induction programme is provided as well as ongoing training to seek to equip staff members with the key skills required.

· The Bank recently completed a review of Challenged resource requirements and filled a number of new roles both in the Branch Network and Head Office. Resource and training requirements remain under regular and ongoing review.

Mortgages

· Bank of Ireland has a comprehensive Mortgage Arrears Resolution Strategy (MARS) which is subject to ongoing enhancement to take account of the continuing challenge of mortgage arrears in its Irish Mortgage businesses.

· The strategy incorporates a clear objective to ensure that the Bank has sufficient resources including staff with the required skills to manage and support customers of its Irish Mortgage businesses who are currently facing difficulties in meeting their mortgage repayments.

· The Bank currently has approximately 500 staff engaged in dealing with customers in its Irish Mortgage businesses in mortgage arrears. Resource requirements continue to remain under review to ensure that sufficient staff resources are available to support our customers.

· The Bank has a centralised Arrears Support Unit (ASU) that manages customers of its Irish Mortgage businesses who are currently facing difficulties with their mortgages. Additionally the Bank has people trained and available to each branch in Ireland capable of supporting customers as well as dedicated regionally based mobile teams who can meet with and support customers through the evaluation and assessment of the customer's financial position.

· Staff engaging with customers in Mortgage Arrears receive initial and on-going training to try to ensure they have the necessary business, risk and people skills required to successfully discharge their responsibilities. Specific training has been developed to support this objective.

· The Bank has and will continue to utilise external experts to provide their advice, expertise and support to complement the Bank's skills and resources.

· Resources, training and capabilities in all of the Bank's businesses including those dealing with the customers of its Irish Mortgage businesses are under ongoing review.

IBRC

The IBRC Mortgage Arrears Support Unit currently comprises a team of 30 members of staff dedicated to dealing with 4921 mortgage accounts and those customers experiencing repayment difficulties.

In addition, IBRC has 290 dedicated front office staff dealing with the recovery of commercial loans. These dedicated staff members are supported by administrative, credit, legal and other functions also involved in the recovery process. This number is separate to those staff working in the Bank's dedicated NAMA Unit.

IBRC is continually working to improve the skills, experience and productivity of the Arrears Support Team.

PTSB

PTSB is making significant investment in the area of arrears management. They are working to build best-in-class arrears management expertise with a focus on three key areas: (i) Improving resolution strategies; (ii) Building operational capability; (iii) Building an effective Credit Risk function. The extent of the work to be delivered will range from hiring and training of 100 new staff, training of 300 existing staff and a significant investment in new technologies. The work will also review policies, strategies and processes and introduce improved quality and compliance oversight.

I should stress however that the Relationship Frameworks with the banks provide that the State will not intervene in the day-to-day operations of the banks or their management decisions. These frameworks are published on my Department's website at http://banking.finance.gov.ie/presentations-and-latest-documents/