Ireland

Anglo Irish Bank has sold several hundred million euros of its 9 billion euros United Kingdom loan book and will increase its efforts once the sale of its U.S. book is completed, its chairman said on Thursday, Reuters reported. "We are making some progress on the UK book," Alan Dukes told journalists in Dublin. "We are tying up the U.S. book sale now and we will be able to devote more energy to see what we can do with the UK book.

Arrears among credit union members rose 23 per cent to €813 million in the nine months to June 2011, as borrowers and credit unions alike felt the impact of long-term unemployment and economic austerity, the Irish Times reported. Figures from the Irish League of Credit Unions, which represents 496 credit unions in Ireland, show that some 14 per cent of outstanding loans are more than 10 weeks in arrears. The league’s chief executive, Kieron Brennan, said it would be difficult to predict the pattern of arrears in the year ahead. “It depends where the national economy goes.

Irish house prices continued to fall last month, and at a faster pace than the previous month, the Irish Times reported. House prices dropped 1.6 per cent in August, compared to a 0.8 per cent fall in July. On an annual basis, house prices were 13.9 per cent lower last month than the previous August. This compares to an annual rate of decline of 12.5 per cent in July. The latest monthly figures, which were released by the CSO today, mean that residential properties are now 43 per cent lower than in 2007.

In the High Court recently there was a ruling on the liquidator of DR Developments (Youghal) Limited whereby he cannot charge fees for selling houses on behalf of AIB without firstly obtaining a Court order before the sale, InsolvencyJournal.ie reported. The liquidator, Gerard Murphy of Gerard Murphy & Company was appointed Official Liquidator to the company on 17th May 2010 on foot of a petition from Healy Bros Limited. The liquidator had sought Court approval to sell the assets of the company for AIB, or approval of the sale arrangements when finalised with the bank.

Almost €4 billion from the National Pension Reserve Fund which was invested in Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Bank last year has been written off, according to the annual report of the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Irish Times reported. The report shows that up to the end of 2010, the NPRF invested €11.35 billion in Ireland's two biggest banks. However, as a result of an impairment loss of €3.7 billion, the value of this investment fell to €7.6 billion.

EU finance ministers have signed off on a package of interest rate cuts on Ireland’s bailout which will benefit the State by up to € 10 billion during the course of the rescue, the Irish Times reported. Minister for Finance Michael Noonan will today raise Anglo Irish Bank when he meets European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet but he has acknowledged there is little prospect of the bank allowing him not to repay some of Anglo’s senior debt.

Anglo Irish Bank chairman Alan Dukes has said the bank will be able to pursue former chief executive David Drumm through the Irish courts again if its objection to his discharge from bankruptcy in Boston is successful, the Irish Times reported. The bank expected a decision on its objection in the “relatively near future”, Mr Dukes told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform. “If that goes in the way we hope, that will leave it open to us to pursue actions here,” he said.

Allied Irish Banks has written-off mortgage debts in a small number of cases where it has repossessed houses but is working on industry-wide long-term solutions to lessen the debt burden for struggling borrowers to help them stay in their homes, the Irish Times reported. Speaking to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, AIB executive chairman David Hodgkinson said he was consulting with the Department of Finance and the Central Bank on a wide range of solutions to assist distressed customers.

Anglo Irish Bank and Seán Quinn exchanged harsh criticisms ahead of a High Court decision today on whether to restrain Mr Quinn and certain family members from alleged asset-stripping in their overseas property group, the Irish Times reported. Mr Quinn claimed Anglo was pursuing a vendetta against him and his children and ignoring its obligations to the State by agreeing “the worst possible deal” on the restructuring of his group. He claimed the Minister for Finance was misled when he said last April that Quinn Group had been relieved of almost half of its debt in the restructuring.

The National Asset Management Agency plans to seek tenants for some of its 8,000 apartments with a view to selling them as blocks to investors to help shift properties stuck on its books, the Irish Times reported. Brendan McDonagh, chief executive of Nama, said that most of the apartments were in Dublin. The apartment rental scheme is aimed at investment companies that manage rented apartment blocks, particularly in the UK.