Have we any reason not to trust the banks?

The treatment of our august banking institutions by the Oireachtas Committee does the banks a great disservice.

The banks lent money with a coercive generosity to people seeking to buy houses, who are now covetously looking to keep them.

Luckily, our pillar banks exhibited granite-like strength in the face of accusations of “fudging the numbers”.

Granted, without the taxpayers the main banks may no longer exist, but existence is something we all daily take for granted, forgetting to praise our putative benefactor. It is asserted that both parties were responsible for imprudent loans that did not comply with the usual lending ratios and criteria.

This ignores the fact that an institution that shares pain of its own volition shows a lack of self-preservation instinct, and the banks clearly cannot be accused of this.

The core of the problem, as stated by bankers again this week, is rampant, strategic defaulting by homeowners, who are rapaciously hoarding money for items such as bills and children’s education, rather than paying their mortgage.

The banks have produced no evidence of this, but, given their record to date, do we have any reason not to trust them?

Rob Carey

Tralee

Co Kerry