Banks hit out at Eurostat findings

IRISH banks are contesting Eurostat figures which indicate they are ripping-off Irish business customers by charging the highest interest rates on commercial loans in Europe.

Eurostat figures show Irish banks charge an average of 8.07% on multi-year loans compared to a low of 4.74% in Finland and the second dearest rate of 7.42% in Greece.

A spokesman for Bank of Ireland said they do not know how Eurostat, the European central statistics office, arrived at the 8.07% figure, saying a large proportion of their rates to business were at the ECB rate of 2% plus 1.75%. He pointed out they have an unsecured business rate on loans up to 65,000 of 4.75%.