No debt write-offs at bank, says Boucher

BANK OF Ireland is not offering debt write-offs to mortgage borrowers as part of its solutions for distressed customers, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform heard yesterday.

Chief executive Richie Boucher told the committee the bank was still trying to repair its business and reduce the risk to taxpayers. He said he has had to learn from mistakes that were made.

“I have had to learn a lot . . . We believe that the bank has continued to change, will continue to change. We are continuing to fix the bank . . . Any human being in life has to learn from experience,” he said after 2½ hours before the committee.

He said the bank’s Irish mortgage business was not making a profit but refused to say when the bank would be profitable again.

Following repeated questioning by members of the committee, Mr Boucher said debt forgiveness was not an option on offer for its mortgage-holders. “Debt write-off is not a policy that we have.”

Bank of Ireland has modified mortgages for 3,900 mortgage customers who could not make full repayments, with 95 per cent of these customers meeting at least the interest due on their loans. Some 90 per cent of customers who have had their mortgages modified have returned to making full repayments.

Mr Boucher, who received a salary of €690,000 in 2010, declined to discuss his pay when asked by Independent TD Richard Boyd Barrett about whether it was appropriate that he receive a salary above the Government pay cap of €500,000.

“I am not going to comment on my own salary,” he said, adding later that his pay was determined by the board of the bank.

Questioned about his role as a director and senior executive of the bank when it engaged in reckless lending in the run-up to the 2008 financial crash, Mr Boucher declined to be drawn on criticism of him remaining on as chief executive.

“I have been appointed to a job; I am doing that job,” he said.

Asked whether the bank accepted culpability for the difficulties that mortgage borrowers were in, Mr Boucher said the bank had made mistakes and was trying to rectify them by working with customers.