Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 September 2020
88. Deputy Verona Murphy asked the Minister for Finance if his attention was drawn prior to the announcement of the introduction of maintenance and transactions fees for customers by a bank (details supplied) with quarterly balances of €2,500 or less, which were previously exempt from charges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26523/20]
View answerAs 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.
The AIB Relationship Framework can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/597d15-aib-relationship-framework-agreement-june-2017/
My officials have been provided with the attached helpful guide from AIB to reducing fees and charges which can be accessed at the following link:
https://aib.ie/content/dam/aib/personal/docs/fees-and-charges/a-guide-to-fees-and-charges-for-personal-accounts.pdf
