The highly critical judgment in the bankruptcy trial of former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm has been passed to the office of the US Trustee, which can refer the judge’s findings to the department of justice and recommend criminal charges on perjury and fraud, the Irish Times reported.

Former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm could face further legal action from creditors pursuing debts and criminal charges for lying to a US court, following a damning judgment against him, the Irish Times reported. Mr Drumm has lost the protection of the US bankruptcy court, exposing him to litigation for recovery of €10.5 million he owes, after Massachusetts Judge Frank Bailey denied him a declaration of bankruptcy that would have allowed him to avoid repaying his debts.

Tighter loan-to-value ratios for house purchasers and better updating of house valuations for property tax purposes are among the measures cited in a new report on how to dampen house-price cycles, the Irish Times reported.

Irish people are still going to the UK in large numbers to work out their debt difficulties despite the introduction of a similar service in Ireland, new research shows, the Irish Times reported. According to AJ Debt Solutions, an Irish insolvency firm which specialises in UK insolvency processes, it processed close to 100 individual voluntary agreements (IVAs) in the UK for Irish citizens in the last 18 months. This compares with just 59 debt settlement arrangements (DSAs) in the Irish system agreed since September 2013, although 220 applications have been made.

Companies are back in the market for credit but Irish consumers are still more concerned about paying back old debts than borrowing for fresh spending, according to Central Bank money and banking statistics, the Irish Times reported. The November data shows that household loan repayments exceeded loan drawdowns by €335 million during the month, while companies borrowed €139 million more than they repaid. Companies’ medium-term debt borrowings are the biggest climbers, up a net €205 million in November, suggesting a nascent puck-up in investment.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan is to establish a special working group to examine the costs to the State of financial regulation. This comes in the wake of revelations that the Irish taxpayer is being forced to plug a €58 million hole in the State’s annual regulatory bill, the Irish Times reported. Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said the Central Bank confirmed to him that €57.9 million of the State’s €136 million bill for overseeing the sector in 2013 went “unrecovered”.

Killorglin Credit Union (KCU) in Kerry has been subsumed into Tralee Credit Union (TCU) following a High Court application on Thursday by the Central Bank, the Irish Times reported. The move follows a secret four-year engagement with regulators to repair its balance failed. It had needed a €3.1 million injection just to meet regulatory reserves.

The Central Bank has urged banks to adopt caution when writing back problem loans due to the improving property market, as it also warns that the forthcoming maturity of a large proportion of bank debt could impact negatively on bank profitability, the Irish Times reported. At the publication of the Central Bank’s second Macro Financial Review for 2014, the Central Bank urged banks “to be cautious” when it comes to releasing loss provisions.

More than 23,000 defaulting mortgage holders are facing the prospect of legal action to repossess their homes and investment properties as banks step up efforts to confront the arrears backlog, the Irish Times reported. New figures from the Central Bank suggest that banks had proposed solutions for 93 per cent of arrears cases by the end of September, exceeding their year-end target to propose solutions in 85 per cent of cases. In almost half of those cases, however, the proposed solution involves loss of ownership.

The Kutuzoff Tower in Moscow, the most valuable of the foreign properties that were once owned by the children of the bankrupt businessman Seán Quinn, is likely go up for sale next year. The office block, which two years ago was considered to have a value of approximately $180 million, is the subject of a bankruptcy process overseen by the Russian courts that involves a requirement to liquidate the asset, the Irish Times reported. The deadline for putting the building up for sale is likely to be early next year.