Listening to various bankers this week, one could be excused for thinking they were a bunch of volunteer charity workers out to protect their customers' interests. First, the incoming president of the Irish Bankers' Federation - Bank of Ireland's head of retail operations John Collins - said the statutory ombudsman scheme planned by the Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, might create a less accessible and more unwieldy complaints system for customers. This will come as news to customers who, in general, find the banks anything but accessible and flexible.

A day later, Laurence Crowley, a Bank of Ireland governor, was warning the Institute of Directors that the overseas ownership of Irish banks would create a less understanding framework for Irish corporate bank customers.

By his own logic, Mr Crowley seems to be advocating the divesting by B of I of its British Bristol & West subsidiary and similar retreats by AIB from Poland, Britain and the United States. I wonder what Scottish-owned Ulster Bank, Australian-run National Irish Bank or Belgium's IIB would have to say.

Mr Crowley's idea that foreign-owned banks might lose sight of the Irish market's needs in an international strategy is laughable. Any business knows it can only survive by paying attention to the particular needs of each of its markets - ask any successful multinational. Maybe Mr Crowley and his colleagues are more concerned by reports that National Australia Bank might be running the rule over B of I or that foreign competition might eat further into the relatively lucrative margins enjoyed by the Irish banking industry . . .

dcoyle@irish-times.ie