Cathal Crowe
Question:326. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Finance if his Department will take steps to stop the sale of a debt (details supplied) by a bank; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39766/22]
View answerTuesday, 26 July 2022
Questions (326)
Written answers
I wish to highlight, as Minister for Finance, I am precluded from intervening in commercial and operational decisions in any particular bank, even one 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 bank's independence is protected by a Relationship Framework which is a legally binding document that cannot be changed unilaterally. This framework, which is publicly available, was insisted upon by the European Commission to protect competition in the Irish market.
Notwithstanding the above, my officials contacted AIB in relation to this matter and received the following response:
‘AIB has been offering customers a comprehensive range of solutions over an extended number of years, including the completion of a series of proactive customer contact and engagement programmes. Customers are afforded an opportunity to avail of a solution and resolve their position through consensual engagement before their loan is sold. Where a judgement order has been obtained from the courts for a debt, statutory court interest may apply. All solutions are assessed to ensure that they are appropriate to a customer’s individual circumstances. AIB continues to support customers, with more than 145,000 forbearance solutions implemented since 2016.
AIB has undertaken a significant amount of due diligence on the Sycamore portfolio ensuring that all data transferred to the purchaser is timely and accurate. Furthermore AIB has set up a dedicated team to support customers through this transition. This team can be contacted on 0818 300 075 or at tst@aib.ie.