Bank of Ireland is not offering debt write-offs to mortgage borrowers as part of its solutions for distressed customers, the bank told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform.
Lynda Carragher, the bank's head of mortgage and consumer credit for Ireland and the UK, said that the bank was dealing with struggling borrowers on a case by case basis but that it was not part of its policy to write off mortgage debt.
Following repeated questioning by members of the committee, the bank admitted that debt forgiveness was not an option on offer.
"Debt write-off is not a policy that we have," chief executive Richie Boucher said.
The bank has modified mortgages for 3,900 mortgage customers who could not make full repayments. It said 95 per cent of these customers were 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.
However, Mr Boucher said that he has had to learn from the bank's mistakes since the crisis and that the bank was still trying to repair its business and reduce the risk to taxpayers.
"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 two and a half hours before the committee.
He said the bank's Irish mortgage business was not making a profit but he refused to say when the bank would be profitable again.
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 said that it was "a matter of record that I held a senior position in Bank of Ireland". He 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.
Mr Boucher declined to comment on his support for Sean Dunne's proposed redevelpoment of the Jurys Hotel site in Ballsbridge or whether he viewed the project as an example of reckless lending by the banks.
Speaking generally about the lending by the bank, he said that Bank of Ireland had "absolutely acknowledged that we lent too much to the property market" and that it had made mistakes on its property lending, didn't have enough capital in reserve to cover loan losses and had become too reliant on wholesale funding.
Defending his position, Mr Boucher, who was appointed to the board in 2006, said that he had stood for re-election to the board on three occasions and that each time more than 90 per cent of shareholders had voted for his re-election.
"I wouldn’t have any great confidence in your stewardship in the past and possibly going into the future," said Labour TD Kevin Humphreys.
Bank of Ireland is the only Irish bank to avoid Government control after raising €1.1 billion from North American private investors in July. The State holds a 15 per cent stake in the bank after injecting €5.7 billion into the lender.
Mr Boucher said that the bank was committed to repaying its debts to senior bondholders as it had to borrow from senior bondholders to ensure that the bank was "safely funded".
On the future of the bank's College Green branch, which the Minister for Arts and Heritage Jimmy Deenihan has sought for the State, Mr Boucher said that it was a "very important commercial centre to our customers".
The branch served 30,000 customers and is the bank's main branch in Dublin and cash centre in Leinster, said Mr Boucher.
