It is simply unacceptable that banks are halting lending to those in receipt of the wage subsidy scheme and the pandemic unemployment payment. Reports also that extra scrutiny will be applied to so-called high-risk workers certainly do not help matters. At a time when all sectors of society are pulling together to aid our recovery from the pandemic, the banks' actions are simply unacceptable. We need to encourage and incentivise investment post Covid to stimulate our now fragile economy. The banks owe this to the public. We bailed them out in the recent past and they must now step up to treat customers fairly. How does the Government intend to deal with this decision? What legislation, if any, will be introduced to aid it?

The role of the banking sector, credit unions and other non-bank lenders in our economy and society is to provide credit in the form of mortgages to people who want to buy a home, credit to businesses, and loans to people who need them. However, they also need to be prudent. Banks and lenders need to know the money will be repaid or at least in almost all cases the money is repaid. Banks and other lenders need to be prudent in that regard because if they make loans that are not repaid, there are serious consequences for everyone else in society. We need to bear that in mind. No legislation is proposed.