Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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135. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on whether additional fees being imposed on current account holders of a bank (details supplied) from 28 November 2020 are justified in view of recent reports from market analysts that suggest that the organisation has more than enough capital to cushion the Covid-19 crisis; his views on whether these new charges are regressive and will particularly effect lower income customers, given that they remove the existing option of fee-free banking for those customers who keep at least €2,500 in their current accounts; if he plans to discuss this with the organisation and seek an indefinite suspension of these fees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39156/20]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware as Minister for Finance I have no role in the commercial decisions made by the banks, including the structure and level of pricing for their various product offerings. This applies equally to the banks in which the State has a shareholding.

Decisions in this regard are the sole responsibility of the board and management of the banks which must be run on an independent and commercial basis. The independence of banks in which the State has a shareholding is protected by Relationship Frameworks which are legally binding documents that cannot be changed unilaterally. These frameworks, which are publicly available, were insisted upon by the European Commission to protect competition in the Irish market.