Ireland

Examination by AIB as to how William and Sheila Moran, the former owners of Morans on the Weir, in Kilcolgan, Co Galway, spent €24,000 a month on living expenses over 38 months to the end of 2014, is continuing, the Irish Times reported. Mr Justice Brian McGovern was yesterday told the bank is reviewing some new information it has received over the past two weeks, and is waiting for more that is pending. The case was adjourned to April 4th.

Troubled oil and gas explorer Petroceltic, which owes more than $200 million (€179 million), has been given a two-week reprieve from its lenders, the Irish Times reported. In a statement to the Irish Stock Exchange this morning, the company said it had received a further waiver of repayments under its senior bank facility until March 4th. Meanwhile, the exploration company has announced the start of development drilling on the Ain Tsila gas field in Algeria.

Two brothers have brought a legal action to stop a company that acquired their multi-million euro property investment loans from Ulster Bank from enforcing repayment by selling off their secured assets, the Irish Times reported. Anthony and Gregory Alken, who owned and operated the Febvre wine importing business until they lost control in 2014, got loans from Ulster Bank totalling around €21 million.

The trial of four senior bankers has heard that Irish Life and Permanent stopped a €3 billion transfer from Anglo in December 2008 because of a fear over “reputational damage”, the Irish Times reported. Former Irish Life and Permanent (ILP) CEO Denis Casey and Anglo’s former head of finance Willie McAteer and two others are accused of conspiring to mislead investors by using interbank loans to make Anglo appear €7.2 billion more valuable than it was. Mr McAteer (65) of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co.

Irish homeowners continue to pay above the odds for their mortgage borrowings and are being under-compensated for their deposits, new figures from the Central Bank show. Yes, despite another fall in variable mortgage rates in December, Irish homeowners are paying an average new business rate of 3.76 per cent on their mortgage. This compares with an average rate for the Euro area of just 1.99 per cent, with homeowners in Luxembourg for example, paying an average rate of just 1.76 per cent.

A number of developer Seamus Ross’s Menolly Homes group companies look set to be placed in liquidation at a creditors’ meetings today, the Irish Times reported. Mr Ross was one of the most active housebuilders in Dublin, through the Menolly Homes group, over the last decade. Last December he became one of the well-known developers to exit Nama when Cardinal Capital refinanced the final part of his group’s debts.

Irish household debt continued to fall in the third quarter of 2015, reaching its lowest level since the early months of 2006, new data from the Central Bank has revealed. The figures showed debt declined to €151.2 billion, or €32,614 per capita, for the three month period, down €2.1 billion or 1.3 per cent overall from the preceding quarter, the Irish Times reported. This was partly due to continued repayments, write-offs and reclassifications, with repayments at their lowest level since the first quarter of 2010.

A legal dispute has arisen between Danske Bank and the liquidator of Bloxham stockbrokers over the remaining assets of the firm, which include €4 million from the sale of its client book to rival firm Davy, the Irish Times reported. Bloxham was wound up in 2012 following the discovery of financial irregulatories. Danske claims to have a floating charge on the firm’s assets through some €34 million in loans lent to former partners and the brokerage itself by National Irish Bank, which was later acquired by Danske.

Fianna Fáil has said it will “examine the feasibility” of EBS being demerged from AIB and sold separately as a standalone mortgage player. The move would be targeted at stimulating competition for home loans and savings products, the Irish Times reported. The party’s economic strategy document for the general elections said this would “acknowledge the fact that the loss of the building societies [since the 2008 financial crash] has had a long-term negative impact on the mortgage market”.

The rescheduled extradition hearing at which former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive, David Drumm, is now expected to agree to return to the State from the US is set to take place in Boston late on Thursday, the Irish Times reported. He had been due in court on Monday, but bad weather forced the hearing’s postponement. On Tuesday, it was rescheduled to begin at 8pm Irish time on Thursday. The State is seeking his extradition to face 33 charges arising from transactions carried out during his time at Anglo, which he led in the period before its collapse in 2009.