Problems may arise particularly for the elderly or for people with impaired mobility, but they may also arise for small businesses or for those who live in the countryside or who do not use the internet. Services should not be provided exclusively to people who use the internet regularly, or only those who live in Tallinn or Tartu. The advances in technology have led electronic payments and internet banking to become very popular, and this has reduced the need for cash and the need for people to actually go into a bank branch. This has been driven by both supply and demand. Surveys in Estonia show that bank cards are ever more popular as a means of payment, while internet banking is increasingly used for banking transactions, and this trend shows no sign of abating. This means that preferences of consumers themselves are changing, and bank customers need less and less to visit their local bank or to use cash. This is an inevitable consequence of technological progress, and it must be borne in mind throughout this debate. Demographic changes specifically means urbanisation, and urbanisation is happening here in Estonia too, amplifying the effect of developments in technology. It is inevitable that the decline in customer numbers will be reflected in falling demand, and that falling demand will lead to reduced supply. This applies equally to all forms of service provision, not just banking services.
While these banks have the skills and experience to do the job, even their resources are not inexhaustible. There may be a case to spread the role of lead bank more widely, or at least for banks to make a bigger contribution in steering committees. Steering committee members should strive to represent the interests of the bank group as a whole rather than their own interests. The representatives of banks on steering committees should also have the right level of knowledge and experience to understand the issues and to make a real contribution to driving the process along. They should also of course turn up to meetings in the first place. *  Fourth, banks need to be able to respond more quickly to restructuring proposals that are presented to them for approval. At present, it seems that the decision-making process can get bogged down in internal bureaucracies within banks, particularly when proposals have to be sent to head office for approval. While decisions are delayed, companies can bleed to death. *  Finally, and I realize that this is a contentious point, banks should be realistic and pragmatic about what they can expect to get out of restructuring. While they should obviously be trying to extract the best possible deal from the company and its shareholders, this should not be at the expense of jeopardizing the company’s future business viability. All this results in a process which is often more protracted than it need be.