Banks owe taxpayers transparency and trust

WHEN the taxpayers of this country bailed out our failed banks, the financial laws of gravity were turned on their head. The banks, after all, were where the little guy goes for security in times of uncertainty. Now it seemed the shoe was on the other foot: except it wasn’t. Once rescued, for the banks it has been business as usual.

Yet it cannot be. The Government is now a major stakeholder and therefore there is political fallout when decisions are made.

Today our Personal Finance Editor Charlie Weston reveals how he was ordered by letter, without even the courtesy of a signature, to go to his Garda station with his wife to verify that he is the owner of a mortgage. The couple have never missed a payment but their loan has been bought out, and now for some reason the onus is on them to prove their integrity.

Lenders assume they have the power to demand and act as they wish in their own interest. What makes it so unsettling is that one is dealing with a faceless and anonymous entity which can issue edicts with which one must comply.

Where is the duty of care for the customer actually paying for the service? It is a long time since Bernie Sanders made the point that if a financial institution is too big to fail it is too big to exist. It cannot be allowed to grow to such a size that it no longer feels the need to recognise the rights of the individual. Anger over the handing over of mortgages to vulture funds is likely to boil over unless some clarity is brought to bear. Non-performing loans must be dealt with. But as things stand, although there is a regulatory framework for the banks, rules for the vulture funds are voluntary.

The age of good manners and treating people with courtesy may have slipped us by, but we can at least insist on trust, fairness and transparency in our day-to-day dealings.