Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 February 2014
135. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the number of times the Credit Review Office has given an opinion to the banks; the number of times its opinion differed from a bank; the number of times a bank accepted that opinion and reversed its decision; and if he will provide a breakdown of these figures by bank. [6623/14]
View answerI am informed by the Credit Review Office (CRO) that they have received 447 formal applications to date. Of these, 305 have reached final conclusion and the CRO has upheld 55% of the appeals in favour of borrowers. Some of the other appeals are work in progress, others are resolved between the borrower and the bank before opinions need to issue, and some were abandoned by the applicant.
The breakdown of the 305 is as follows:
|
- |
Upheld |
Overturned |
Total |
% overturned |
Decision Reversed |
|
AIB |
77 |
86 |
163 |
53% |
- |
|
BOI |
61 |
81 |
142 |
57% |
- |
|
TOTAL |
138 |
167 |
305 |
- |
160 out of 167 |
In 7 cases where the CRO recommended facilities be made available, the bank has not provided facilities. This was mainly due to factors other than the viability of the credit request. Explanations were provided to the CRO as prescribed in legislation (see extract below from SI 127 of 2010) and these decisions by the bank were accepted by the CRO.
Extract from SI 127 2010
"Response to Credit Reviewer recommendation
22. If the Credit Reviewer recommends that a credit facility should be granted, the participating institution which refused credit shall comply with the recommendation of the Credit Reviewer or provide an explanation to the Credit Reviewer why it would not be appropriate for the institution to comply with the specific recommendation. The explanation shall be in the form prescribed by the Credit Reviewer."
