Ireland

The troubled More Than insurer RSA signalled another burst of pain ahead on the dividend yesterday as it prepares to strengthen its finances following "completely unacceptable" losses in Ireland, The Independent reported. A review of its Irish business by the accountancy firms PwC and KPMG found that "inappropriate collaboration" between the subsidiary's top executives undermined accounting controls, but said the problems were confined to Ireland. The problems were uncovered in November, forcing RSA to pump £200m into the business.

The State has a long way to go in its battle against unemployment, despite a 28,000 fall in the numbers signing on last year, Taoiseach Enda Kenny warned yesterday, the Irish Times reported. Figures published by the Central Statistics Office show the numbers on the Live Register fell by 3,300 on a seasonally adjusted basis in December to 402,800 from 406,100 in November, a month-on-month reduction of 0.1 per cent.

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) is readying a 10-year syndicated government bond issue, which may be issued as early as tomorrow morning. The issue, which will likely range between €3 and €5 billion, will mark Ireland’s first foray into the bond markets since exiting the IMF/EU bail-outprogramme in December, the Irish Times reported. Ireland is fully funded out to the second quarter of 2015, but the NTMA has indicated that it would borrow €6-10 billion this year.

Danske Bank has declined to reveal the discount it accepted on the Football Association of Ireland’s (FAI) near €60 million in loans associated with its half share of the Aviva stadium, citing customer confidentiality. It was reported yesterday that the association has received a writedown of €12.5 million on the loans as part of a refinancing agreed with QED Equity, an investment firm founded by Dermot Desmond, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), a giant US investment house.

The family of former billionaire Seán Quinn are preparing to challenge the constitutionality of the IBRC Act to prevent the sale of their assets to a third party or the transfer of their loans into the National Asset Management Agency. The Quinn family and their legal advisers are, according to an informed source, focusing their attention on section 12 of the IBRC Act, which relates to “the sale or transfer of any asset or liability by IBRC”.

Brian Harvey, founder of business support firm Siteserv, will become chairman of Siac, the distressed construction company, once a rescue deal is agreed with its banks, the Irish Times reported. Mr Harvey has to secure a deal by January 30th, the date Siac’s court-ordered bankruptcy protection expires. Siac chief executive Martin Maher will remain in situ following agreement being reached with Siac’s three banks – Bank of Ireland, Bank of Scotland Ireland and KBC.

Hundreds of people with debts of less than €20,000 faced delays in securing insolvency arrangements after legislation to assist them was found to be unworkable, the Irish Times reported. The Personal Insolvency Act 2012 contained flaws that made it almost impossible for the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (Mabs) to progress debt relief notices, designed to help people with small unsecured debts such as personal and credit card loans. New legislation, the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013, was signed into law by President Michael D Higgins on Christmas Eve.

The number of Irish people adjudicated bankrupts in Ireland and the UK almost doubled this year, the Independent reported today. The number of insolvencies are expected to surge this year despite the introduction of personal insolvency laws that allow borrowers to have debts written down subject to strict income guidelines. A total of 157 Irish citizens were bankrupted in Britain this year compared to 106 last year, an increase of 48 percent.

The Government has explored pooling loss-making tracker mortgages in state-guaranteed asset-backed security structures “for repurchase with various counterparties”, the IMF said in its final review under the bailout, issued yesterday, the Irish Times reported. The review calls for greater progress in addressing problems in the banking sector, particularly in relation to mortgage arrears and new lending. “Banks . . . need to rebuild their profitability, although in the context of low ECB policy rates, they face challenges from the structure of their assets,” the IMF said.

The liquidation vehicle for Ireland's failed Anglo Irish Bank has been granted bankruptcy protection in the United States, it said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The bank, whose failure cost Irish taxpayers some 30 billion euros ($41 billion) in the financial crisis, was put into an accelerated liquidation process during an emergency session of Ireland's parliament in February. Now known as Irish Bank Resolution Corp, or IRBC, the liquidating bank applied in August for U.S. court protection to prevent creditors from going after more than $1 billion in U.S. assets.