By far our most high profile campaign in recent years has been our aggressive pursuit of financial inclusion. Why is financial inclusion important? It is important because it is a necessary condition for sustaining equitable growth. There are few, if any, instances of an economy transiting from an agrarian system to a post-industrial modern society without broad-based financial inclusion.
Irish banks have substantial exposures to land and development loans, which creates uncertainty about their capital positions, and ultimately affects their ability to provide credit to the real economy.