Ireland

Signs of overheating have begun to emerge in the Irish economy, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has warned. In its latest economic outlook report, the Paris-based agency said new mortgage loans and loans to small firms – largely driven by construction-related activity – had risen sharply in recent months, the Irish Times reported. While the Central Bank’s lending restrictions, such as the loan-to-value and loan-to-income caps, have reduced the share of risky loans, the OECD said they may need to be extended to cool the current level of credit growth.

The former chairman of Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS), Michael Walsh, told an inquiry into the lender that an erroneous report in early September 2008 on the company’s financial position triggered a €1 billion run on its deposits, the Irish Times reported. He said a Reuters report on September 5th, 2008, that INBS was in “talks with its lenders to avoid insolvency”, which was subsequently retracted by the news agency, “was completely untrue, but the impact of that was to cause a run on the society” and added to general uncertainty in financial markets at the time.

Barclays has snapped up Lloyds Banking Group’s remaining Irish mortgage portfolio for £4 billion (€4.6 billion) and plans to refinance the loans in the bond market, the Irish Times reported. Sources said that the bank has lined up UK asset manager M&G Investments and US investment giant Pimco to acquire residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) linked to the mortgages. Barclays will also hold onto at least 5 per cent of the notes, in line with securitisation rules brought in following the global financial crisis.

Vulture funds are a “cancer” in Irish society that will trigger thousands of home repossessions, debt campaigner David Hall has warned. “They have one thing on their agenda and that is feasting on the carcasses of those who suffered because of the gambling by banks,” he told the Oireachtas Finance Committee. Mr Hall said that vulture funds had no interest in restructuring loans or working with those in arrears, the Irish Times reported. “They buy to obtain the asset and sell it and profit. If you want to lose your home and possibly have a debt written off then vultures are for you.

Patrick Neary, the former chief executive of the now-defunct Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (Ifsra), told an inquiry into Irish Nationwide Building Society that the authority’s board was not willing to tackle a series of problems at the company for fear of upsetting its planned sale, the Irish Times reported.

Thomson Reuters is planning to transfer its widely used foreign exchange derivatives trading from London to Dublin to be ready for the UK’s departure from the EU next year, the Irish Times reported. In a media advisory note sent on Tuesday morning Thomson said it had commenced the process of applying to the Central Bank of Ireland for authorisation to operate the business here. The move of the company’s multilateral trading facility comes directly as a result of the UK’s planned departure from the European Union, Thomson Reuters said.

Michael Fingleton, the former managing director of Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS), sought to establish at a Central Bank inquiry on Thursday that certain communications from the regulator made “recommendations” rather than statutory orders in the run-up to the financial crisis, the Irish Times reported. Mr Fingleton, who is representing himself at the inquiry, noted that some letters from the regulator to the now-defunct building society about its handling of credit reviews in 2006 and 2007 contained no legal provision.

Ulster Bank has pressed the button on the sale of €1.6 billion of mortgages that are deep in arrears, bringing to more than €12 billion the amount of Irish loans on the market as lenders face mounting regulatory pressure to cut their bad debt levels, the Irish Times reported. The news came as senior central bankers and Oireachtas finance committee members locked horns on Thursday over the approach that overseas buyers of non-performing loans are taking to mortgage holders in default.

Gayle Dunne, wife of bankrupt developer Seán Dunne, is asking the High Court to halt proceedings brought against her here over the transfer of South African properties between the couple, the Irish Times reported. The case relates to Mr Dunne’s 2013 bankruptcy adjudications in both Ireland and the United States, Chris Lehane, the official in charge of Mr Dunne’s Irish bankruptcy, has brought proceedings over the alleged fraudulent transfer of assets in South Africa and Ireland between Mr and Ms Dunne.

Goldman Sachs, which was hired in 2007 to manage an abortive attempt to sell Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS) before the financial crash, told regulators at the time it had concerns over the availability of information from the lender, an inquiry into INBS heard on Wednesday, the Irish Times reported. INBS picked the Wall Street investment bank in September 2007 to run a long-awaited sale of the building society, including the compilation of detailed financial data for prospective buyers.