Half of all lending to small and medium business is in arrears, according to the Central Bank. Fiona Muldoon, the director of credit institution supervision at the bank told a conference in Tralee yesterday that of the €50 billion lent to the sector by the domestic banks, some €25 billion was impaired and that the rate at which banks are facing up to the problem is unacceptable five years into the banking crisis, the Irish Times reported.

Bank of Ireland approved €1 billion of new loans to small and medium-sized enterprises in the first quarter of 2013, an increase of 25 per cent in the number of loans approved in the first three months of 2012, the Irish Times reported. The bank yesterday said the increase reflected a pick-up in credit demand from viable Irish SMEs and the bank’s initiatives to grow business-banking operations.

Banks dealing with people in mortgage arrears will be able to use the minimum income guidelines to be applied by the insolvency service to force distressed mortgage holders to dramatically curtail their spending on essential items such as medical care, it has been claimed, the Irish Times reported. Speaking last night, Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath called for the minimum income guidelines of the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) to be published without delay.

Property developer Sean Dunne has listed several of the country's main banks as creditors in a bankruptcy filing made in the state of Connecticut in the United States, the Irish Times reported. The former property tycoon names State-owned AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank among more than 30 creditors listed in the court records filed late on Friday. Mr Dunne estimated his liabilities at between $500 million (€390 million) and $1 billion (€780 million) and his assets at $1 million and $10 million in the court bankruptcy filing.

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar has said he is sorry for any "contradictory" remarks which may have given the impression that he and Taoiseach Enda Kenny were at odds on proposed insolvency rules relating to working mothers, the Irish Times reported. On Tuesday Mr Varadkar said women in families with excessive debt had a "legitimate" expectation of retaining their careers. But he added that should childcare bills be so excessive they were deemed to have prevented mortgage repayments being made, "well then that's something that needs to be taken into account".

Tough lifestyle conditions to be imposed on people who attempt to write off mortgage debt under the Irish Government's new Insolvency regime include a warning that those living on public transport routes will not be allowed to include the running of a car as one of their expenses, Independent.ie reported. The guidelines will also impose lifestyle conditions for families, who will be expected to eat healthily and cut back on leisure activities.

The special liquidators of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation are believed to have served legal papers on four former directors of the Irish Nationwide building society, the Irish Times reported. The former directors are facing legal action in relation to their stewardship of Irish Nationwide prior to its nationalisation in 2010 and subsequent merger with Anglo Irish Bank into IBRC. This follows a move by IBRC last year to take legal action against the directors of the building society.

Lloyds Banking Group is considering the sale of about €650 million of Irish real estate loans as the lender extracts itself from Western Europe's biggest property crash, according to a person with knowledge of the planned transaction, the Irish Times reported. The UK's second-biggest government-aided bank will have to sell at a discount, the person said without being more specific. He declined to be identified because the sale plans haven't yet been finalised. Lloyds spokesman Ian Kitts, declined to comment.

Matthew Elderfield has cut himself a big stick with which to beat the banks if they don’t hit their targets under the new proposals for dealing with mortgage arrears. The banks have been given the choice of either coming to sensible arrangements with people in arrears or writing down the value of their mortgages to the current market price of the properties, the Irish Times reported. The incentive to the banks is clear: if they do deals they can value the loans at more than the market price to reflect the additional amount they will recover.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has directed Bank of Ireland, AIB and Permanent TSB to reduce their staff remuneration costs by 6 to 8 per cent to aid their return to profitability, the Irish Times reported. The reductions are to be introduced by cuts in payroll and pension benefits, and new working arrangements and structures to deliver efficiency gains. The banks will be expected to begin delivering the cost reductions in 2014. This direction comes on foot of a report on bankers pay for the Government by consultants Mercer.