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Press release

Minister Donohoe announces commencement of Phase Three of the Switch Your Bank Campaign

The Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe T.D., has today announced the commencement of the third and final phase of the Switch Your Bank campaign.

Following on from the successful delivery of two advertising campaigns which promoted awareness on the benefits of switching, this phase builds on this work by seeking to identify and develop tools which will better enable consumers to complete their switches.

The Economic and Social Research Institute’s (ESRI) Behavioural Research Unit has been contracted to carry out an experimental research project that will focus on the behavioural aspects of switching.

The campaign will continue to be supported by a dedicated website, www.switchyourbank.ie. The website provides a single source where consumers can access useful facts about switching, including a straightforward step by step guide, links to Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) comparison tools and helpful information to support their decision-making.

Speaking on the Switch Your Bank campaign Minister Donohoe said:

“I am pleased to see that work has commenced on the final phase of this worthwhile campaign. The commencement of this phase is timely considering that this has been a particularly difficult year for retail banking.

Introducing an element of behavioural economics to this phase of the campaign may show that making more targeted and personalised recommendations to consumers would be of benefit.

As always, I would encourage all consumers to shop around for financial products and services and to compare the benefits of the different current accounts available.”

Head of the ESRI’s Behavioural Research Unit, Professor Pete Lunn added:

“We are excited to start this new research project. We are aiming to design ways to boost consumers’ decision-making, with a focus on those decisions that have the greatest financial consequences for households.

We will use behavioural economics to create tools to assist people in choosing good financial products. The tools will be tested in controlled experiments that quantify the benefits. In this way, we aim to identify the most successful ways to help consumers to negotiate the complexities of financial products.”

ENDS

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

The Department of Finance is running this campaign as part of a range of competition measures agreed with the European Commission to raise awareness and promote customer switching in the retail financial product area. This was agreed in the context of the EU restructuring plans for AIB and PTSB. The campaign is being funded entirely by the two banks.

The text of the EU restructuring plans for both banks are available at:

In accordance with public procurement rules, a request for tender was issued in accordance with the Office of Government Procurement’s Multi-Supplier Framework Agreement for the Provision of Market Research and Surveys Consultancy Services in October 2020.

The Economic and Social Research Institute was the successful tenderer.

This is the final phase of the Switch Your Bank campaign, the previous phases consisted of advertisements running on TV, radio and online supported by a dedicated website, www.switchyourbank.ie.