Bankers reject claims of a cartel

The Irish Banking Federation is rejecting claims that small businesses are being ripped off.

The Small and Medium Enterprises Association claims Irish firms are being charged interest rates which are double the European average.

But the Banking Federation claims the ISME Report relies entirely on Eurostat figures. It says these statistics cannot be used to compare the level of interest rates in different countries because rates are not harmonised.

Felix O'Regan of the Irish Bankers Federation said this evening: "The notion of a banking cartel in Ireland is nonsense."