Rather than outlining what it could do to help boost competition as Ulster Bank and KBC Bank Ireland exit stage left, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission devotes its 33-page tome to pointing out what others should do. Photograph: Brian LawlessThe submission by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission on the Department of Finance’s review of problems in the banking system is no exercise of introspection.
The submission, published this week, calls for an amendment to the Central Bank’s mandate to give it a role in promoting competition in financial services, alongside its current regulatory focus on prudential and conduct supervision and consumer protection.
But the body’s call for a more efficient use of suspended repossession orders by courts to resolve deep-in-arrears mortgage cases is worthy of consideration – especially when difficulties in enforcing collateral in the State are seen as a potential barrier to entry to the Irish banking market. They also contribute to the high capital requirements, and mortgage rates, here compared to most of Europe.