Ireland

A financial fund is seeking judgment of €18 million against two businessmen over loans from the former Anglo Irish Bank provided for purposes including a housing development in Dublin, the Irish Times reported. Promontoria (Arrow) Ltd, which took over the loans, is seeking judgment against Martin Walshe, Cooldrinagh Lane, Leixlip, and Gerry McIntyre, Ladycastle, Straffan, both Co Kildare. Promontoria is also seeking judgment against Mr McIntyre for another €2 million in relation to another loan to him from Anglo to renew an existing facility with that bank.

The chief executive of Bus Éireann has told staff that the company’s finances are in a “perilous state”and that its losses must be addressed, the Irish Times reported. In a letter to the company’s 2,600 employees, Martin Nolan urged staff representatives “to engage meaningfully” with the company on the implementation of a controversial new commercial plan for the business. He said there was no money available at present for pay rises for staff.

The chief executive of the Irish League of Credit Unions, Ed Farrell, is “quietly confident” that there won’t be a repeat of events at Rush Credit Union (RCU), which was placed into liquidation recently following the emergence of a €4.7 million hole in its reserves and alleged criminal activities. “I don’t think that if we are here this time next year that there will be any contagion,” he told the Irish Times when discussing ILCU’s results for last year.“The credit union family would feel let down by it . . .

The European Central Bank may run out of room to buy Irish Government bonds within weeks under its massive €1.7 trillion quantitative easing programme if its president, Mario Draghi, does not move on Thursday to ease the terms of the plan, according to analysts, the Irish Times reported. Cantor Fitzgerald’s head of fixed income strategy in Dublin, Ryan McGrath estimates that the ECB, Irish Central Bank and other euro-zone monetary authorities currently hold about €31.34 billion of eligible Irish bonds under the quantitative easing plan.

Ireland has become increasingly dependent on defined-contribution pensions as a source of funding for retirement, figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) show, which has warned that such schemes put too much risk on the individual and their design needs to be improved, the Irish Times reported. There were 13 OECD countries in which assets in funded pensions represented more than 50 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015, up from 10 in the early 2000s, according to the intergovernmental economic organisation.

An application to extend developer Sean Dunne’s bankruptcy will be heard at the High Court next month. Ms Justice Caroline Costello has fixed January 31st for the hearing, expected to last three days. Issues concerning whether there will be any cross-examination of either Mr Dunne or Chris Lehane, the official administering his bankruptcy, will be decided later. The matter was before the judge in the High Court bankruptcy list for case management purposes on Monday, when she told Mark Sanfey SC, for Mr Lehane, and Bill Shipsey SC, for Mr Dunne, it would be heard on January 31st.

Ireland has ranked fifth among European states in terms of the ratio of non-performing loans (NPLs) held by its banks, according to a report by the European Banking Authority in London, the Irish Times reported. The analysis shows Ireland with an NPL ratio of just more than 20 per cent, ranking fifth behind Cyprus, Greece, Portugal and Slovenia. Across the board, the rate was 5.4 per cent with Luxembourg the best in class with a figure of about 1.5 per cent.

A UK distressed debt investor that has been at the centre of a rescue plan for Italy’s third biggest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Sienna, has emerged as the leading bidder for a niche bank being sold in Dublin, the Irish Times reported. Sources said Attestor Capital in London is the preferred bidder for EAA Covered Bond Bank in Dublin, which is being sold under the wind-up of failed German bank WestLB.

Ulster Bank is likely to face more cuts as its parent RBS tries to boost capital after failing Bank of England stress tests, according to analysts. They also expect the Edinburgh-based lender’s investment banking activities to be curbed, the Irish Times reported. RBS may need to dispose of £44 billion (€52 billion) of risk-weighted assets to improve its capital buffers, analysts at Barclays wrote in a note to clients on Thursday. “The current Irish efficiency position looks untenable,” UBS analysts wrote on Wednesday.

The High Court has moved to put a biomass-fuelled power plant under construction in Co Mayo into liquidation after efforts to come up with a rescue plan for the insolvent company, with €125 million of debts, failed, the Irish Times reported. The court appointed Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton on Wednesday afternoon as liquidator to Mayo Renewable Power, which initially sought court protection from its creditors under examinership in August.