Bank executives due for quizzing by Finance Committee

The chief executives of the four biggest banks in Ireland are to take questions from TDs about how they're dealing with mortgage arrears.

The chief executives of the four biggest banks in Ireland are to take questions from TDs about how they are dealing with mortgage arrears.

The Oireachtas Finance Committee today begins three days of hearings to discuss how those struggling with their mortgages are being accommodated.

AIB chief executive David Duffy is the first to appear today.

The bankers have been handed targets by the government on the number of mortgages to be addressed by the end of the year.

Earlier this year the government told the country's banks that they should try to resolve 50% of mortgage problems by the end of the year.

This week the chief executives of AIB, Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank and Permanent TSB will appear at the Oireachtas finance committee to update TDs on their progress.

The chairman of the committee, Labour's Ciaran Lynch, says this week's hearings are the first time the bankers have been called in since the targets were laid down.

He said the banks "had no targets in place" for dealing with the issue when they first appeared before the committee, and that "the number of solutions they were providing were quite limited."

The chief executives are also likely to be pressed on the measures they're taking to cut the pay of their staff.

The government's laid down strict targets for the banks on how to cut pay - but left it up to the banks themselves to decide how to meet them.