BANKING LOBBY group the Irish Banking Federation has said that lenders are offering long-term solutions to borrowers who cannot repay their mortgages, in line with the Central Bank’s timetable.

Responding to criticism from Central Bank regulator Fiona Muldoon, the group said it was rolling out new products in line with the timetable set by the regulator at the start of the year.

“All of this work has been developed and is proceeding in accordance with the explicit timeline laid down and advised to all of the lenders by the Central Bank at the beginning of this year,” IBF director of public affairs Felix O’Regan told The Irish Times.

“We are at that stage in that timeline where having completed the piloting of various options up until the end of September and the roll-out of those in October.”

Ms Muldoon, director of credit institutions and insurance supervision at the Central Bank, berated the banks at the IBF’s conference on Tuesday, saying they had seemed to adopt a “wait-and-see” option to tackle the crisis and were in denial about the problems.

Mr O’Regan said the 12-month moratorium on taking action against borrowers in trouble under the Central Bank’s code of conduct was telling banks “let’s wait and see over that time”.

The banks have been told to introduce new products such as split mortgages where part of the debt is parked, negative equity trade-down mortgages and mortgage-to-rent deals where borrowers can remain in their homes as tenants rather than owners.

The voluntary surrender of properties and agreements to sell houses where they cannot afford the mortgages are also on offer.