Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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202. To ask the Minister for Finance if the report of the Financial Inclusion Working Group on the pilot of the standard bank account has been submitted; and if he will outline the conclusions of the report and the decisions being made on foot of this. [27705/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As part of my Department’s Strategy for Financial Inclusion in Ireland, a basic payment account (named the Standard Bank Account) was offered by three banks (AIB, Bank of Ireland and permanent tsb) in three pilot locations (New Ross, Tallaght and Tullamore) from 29 June 2012. The Financial Inclusion Working Group (FIWG) was tasked with governance of the project. The Standard Bank Account (SBA) Pilot finished on 31 March 2013 after a 9-month pilot period. The report of the FIWG on the Pilot has not yet been finalised. I am advised that it is likely to be submitted for my consideration by the end of this week. I expect that the Report will be presented to Government and later published on my Department’s website. I would like to thank the Deputy for his continued interest in this government strategy and will ask my officials to let you know when the report is available.