David Duffy talks a good game

THE AIB boss has been bigging up his bank’s plans to deal with distressed residential mortgages this week.

He was in Galway telling staff and customers of plans to offer mortgage restructuring deals by the summer to some 33,000 customers who are unable to meet their home-loan payments.

His comments come as the Government and the Central Bank discuss moves to force the banks to tackle mortgage arrears.

Some four years into the mortgage mess, it seems that at least one bank is facing up to the situation and prepared to deal with it.

It all sounds great, but many are sceptical about the bank’s grandiose plans.

AIB was unable to provide any figures yesterday on the number of long-term forbearance measures agreed with customers.

And people like David Hall, of the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation, speak of frustration in dealing with AIB and its subsidiary EBS.

A meeting Mr Hall had with EBS executives this week, proposing a split mortgage for a family, ended up with the lender making a derisory offer to warehouse just €35,000 of the mortgage.

This all smacks of the situation with SME lending, where banks claim they are offering loans, but the reality turns out to be somewhat different.

The pressure will now be on Mr Duffy to deliver some real solutions to cashstrapped homeowners, instead of headlinegrabbing rhetoric and boxticking exercises.