Many questions remain over dramatic move

on 07/02/2013 00:00:00

The governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, Patrick Honohan, held talks in Frankfurt with his counterparts and ECB banking chiefs over plans to dispose of the toxic lender.

The bank, favoured by property speculators and developers before the 2008 crash and since rebranded the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), has cost the State €28bn.

The Government has been in long-running talks to cancel a repayment scheme of €3.1bn a year until 2023 for promissory notes - a mechanism devised to refinance Anglo using money from the Central Bank of Ireland but without breaching strict bank funding rules.

The latest instalment was due at the end of March.

The Government's plan is to replace the promissory notes with a long-term government bond. The thinking is this would give the State more time to pay off the debt, thus reducing the cost of the principal sum.

According to finance officials it is a more manageable approach, albeit with longer and potentially bigger interest repayments.

One of the major sticking points in efforts to strike a debt deal has been the ECB's reluctance to be seen to be financing individual EU states. It also does not want to set a precedent for granting a deal on bank debt.

Under the liquidation plan, IBRC's assets transfer to Nama, which was set up to remove toxic loans from banks.

The most high-profile action has been against bankrupt former billionaire tycoon Seán Quinn. The IBRC was pursuing his family for debts of €2.8bn run up by him in failed share deals. It is not clear what impact liquidation will have on the case.

Anglo's former chief executive, Seán FitzPatrick, and two former directors, Pat Whelan and Willie McAteer, are awaiting trial for suspected fraud at the bank.