Honohan To Discuss Mortgage Resolution

Central Bank Governor Prof Patrick Honohan will appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform to discuss mortgage resolution, banking and credit provision issues.

The meeting comes after the detailed engagement by the Committee with the four main banks in early September.

Committee Chairman Ciarán Lynch said: "With Central Bank figures showing that nearly 100,000 home loans are now more than three months in default, meetings with the four main lenders earlier this month provided this Committee with the opportunity to assess progress on mortgage arrears.


"The Central Bank put targets in place that, by the end of June 2013, banks should have proposed sustainable mortgage solutions for 20 percent of distressed borrowers. However, it has emerged from our engagement with lenders that there has been a lack of consistency in dealing with these borrowers.

"The Committee will wish to explore with Prof Honohan how these Central Bank targets might be tightened and made more specific to ensure sustainable, long term solutions to the mortgage crisis can be realised. The Committee is also concerned about the low level of funding from banks to SMEs, which is so critical to job creation and economic recovery."

(CD/JP)