Banks to advertise rivals’ good deals

IRELAND’s bailed-out banks have been ordered by Europe to fund a public awareness campaign that will advertise the areas, such as mortgages and savings schemes, in which their competitors are providing better offers.

The measure, which will affect AIB and PTSB, comes into force next week.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan said that the campaign is being ‘funded in its entirety by the banks’ as part of ‘a range of competition measures agreed with the European Commission’.

The campaign is the latest attempt by the Government to respond to the absence of choice in the stagnant Irish banking market. In the absence of new entrants it plans to drive competition via clearer advertising.