Ireland

Living expenses for members of businessman Sean Quinn’s family must continue to be paid from accounts frozen four years ago rather than from their personal accounts, the High Court has ruled. Mr Justice Brian McGovern refused an application from a receiver appointed over their assets aimed at having the money come from their personal accounts first before any call is made on the frozen accounts, the Irish Times reported.

Lenders to Irish mining group Kenmare Resources have approved the company’s restructuring plan, which will see the group cut its debt by $269 million (€238m) through a share sale, the Irish Times reported. In a statement on Monday, Kenmare said that “significant progress” had been made ahead of the proposed capital raise and it is “confident” that it will be able to deliver the agreed debt restructuring and working capital requirements of the group. The company defaulted on its debts earlier this year after failing to reach agreement with lenders on a deleveraging plan.

Loan approval rates for small and medium sized firms are continuing to improve although access to credit remains a big issue for SMEs, a new survey reveals. The quarterly bank watch study compiled by Isme shows 35 per cent of small businesses who applied for funding were refused credit, down from 43 per cent at the end of February. Overall 41 per cent of fims surveyed said they required additional or new bank facilities in the last three months, as against 42 per cent in the preceding quarter.

Petroceltic chief executive Brian O’Cathain and chief financial officer Tom Hickey have resigned from the company after the High Court today approved an amended survival scheme for the exploration firm and two related companies, the Irish Times reported. A statement from the troubled explorer said Petroceltic’s board has stepped down and the company’s existing share capital been cancelled following conclusion of the examinership process.

The Central Bank’s new head of credit institutions supervision Ed Sibley said banks face “high levels of scrutiny and challenge” as they seek to free up money previously set aside for bad loans, the Irish Times reported. In his first speech his appointment to the role in April, Mr Sibley said that following the crisis “the patient is still weak and vulnerable” and banks still have much to do to address soured loans and risks posed by the “astonishing pace” of technological change.

Receivers appointed over the assets of family members of businessman Seán Quinn say their living expenses should first be paid out of their personal accounts before any expenses are paid out of accounts frozen four years ago, the Irish Times reported. Lawyers for the Quinns said the receivers’ Commercial Court application was a “punitive” attempt to stop them getting on with their lives when they had been waiting years for legal proceedings to be heard.

A group of senior staff at Petroceltic International are expected to voice concerns about the alleged writing down of their employment rights in opposing a survival scheme for the company due to be put before the High Court next week for approval, the Irish Times reported. About 30 senior staff, including senior executives and management, have voted against the proposed scheme at creditors’ meetings. Under the proposals prepared by examiner Michael McAteer, the staff are due to receive just 5 per cent of monies owed to them under “change of control” clauses in their contracts.

The trial of four former Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Life & Permanent executives – Willie McAteer, John Bowe, Denis Casey and Peter Fitzpatrick – on charges connected with a €7.2 billion circular deposit between the two financial institutions in 2008 is just one of a number of criminal cases involving former Anglo directors, the Irish Times reported. The trial of Mr McAteer and Pat Whelan, another former Anglo Irish Bank executive, over an alleged fraudulent loan of over €8 million is slated to start in January 2017.

The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) has taken control of a subsidiary of building group BAM on foot of a debt dating back to a 2007 land deal, the Irish Times reported. Nama recently appointed Jim Hamilton and David O’Connor of accountants BDO as receivers to JPDC, a subsidiary of BAM, the Dutch-owned group that is one of the biggest players in Irish construction. JPDC is a property holding company that sold a site in Carrigtowhill, Co Cork in 2007 to construction company John F Supple, whose debts Nama took over in 2010 and which was finally wound up two years later.

Irish consumers continue to save and shirk new loans in favour of paying down existing debt, leading to a significant change in the Irish banking market, the Irish Times reported. Figures from the Central Bank show that household lending slumped by 3.5 per cent in April, compared with the same period in 2015, as mortgage loans fell by € 176 million during the month, or by 2.3 per cent in the year. Households repaid € 1.8 billion more than was advanced in new loans.