Catherine Murphy
Ceist:84. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Finance the number and proportion of adults who hold a bank account; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19239/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 2 May 2018
Ceisteanna (84)
Freagraí scríofa
I have consulted with the Central Bank and the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland. The information requested by the Deputy regarding the number and proportion of adults that hold a bank account is not available in the format requested.
Bank account could include both current accounts and deposit accounts as well as other payment accounts. It should also be noted that a person may hold additional accounts with various banks or other financial institutions.
However, for information, the Central Bank reported 5,286,356 personal current accounts at the end of June 2017 and the value of those accounts was €25.5 billion. Additional information can be found at the following link:
https://www.centralbank.ie/docs/default-source/Regulation/consumer-protection/compliance-monitoring/reviews-and-research/consumer-protection-bulletin---current-accounts-and-switching---november-2017.pdf
Taking the narrow interpretation of current bank account: a Eurobarometer survey in 2016 found that 76% of Irish respondents had a current bank account (the EU average), while 56% had a savings account. The information relating to this survey can be found at
http://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/index.cfm/ResultDoc/download/DocumentKy/74150)
Taking the broadest possible interpretation, the World Bank reporting in 2017 that 95.3% of those aged 15+ had an account with a bank or other financial institution. For additional information please see
http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?source=global-financial-inclusion#)
On the issue more generally, the Payments Accounts Directive (PAD) was transposed into Irish law on 18 September 2016. From this date, all banks offering payment accounts were required to offer an account with basic features free of charge for at least one year to consumers who do not already have a bank account.
These basic features include an ATM card, direct debits and the ability to pay for goods and services online.
This means that unbanked customers are able to open a basic bank account, whatever their personal financial situation. For more information, consumers can log on to
http://www.finance.gov.ie/what-we-do/banking/payments/payment-accounts-directive/.