Ireland

KBC Bank Ireland is set to refund up to €12.9 million of legal fees and interest to borrowers who have been in arrears across 4,500 mortgages, The Irish Times reported. Most would see the balance of their mortgage loan accounts lowered, though a limited number would receive a direct payment. It comes after the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) ruled in November last year that mortgage lenders cannot impose legal fees on customers in arrears if they are co-operating and engaging with their lenders.

The official overseeing Norwegian Air’s protection from its creditors in Ireland will present a report to the Irish High Court on Jan. 22, having received a business plan from the cash-strapped airline, Reuters reported.. The airline obtained creditor protection this month from courts in Norway and Ireland, giving it some breathing space to restructure its massive debts. Its main aircraft-owning subsidiaries are Irish and its parent company, Norwegian Air ASA, is registered in Norway.

The number of companies going into insolvent liquidations will have increased in 2020 after falling every year since 2012, Independent.ie reported. However, due to ongoing support measures such as Government Covid schemes and landlord forbearance, a massive surge in liquidations forecast by insolvency experts and business groups has not yet occurred. There are signs of an uptick, with voluntary liquidation more than doubling in this month compared with November, increasing from 23 to 52.

Ireland’s EU commissioner Mairead McGuinness has launched a plan to make it easier for banks to sell non-performing loans to third parties in a bid to prevent bad debt dragging on the euro zone economy, The Irish Times reported. It comes amid concerns that the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic could cause loan defaults to double by the end of the crisis as state supports to sectors and employees are withdrawn.

How Irish is Norwegian Air Shuttle? A High Court judge wanted to know last week. Enough to grant protection from creditors, it turned out. A few weeks earlier the Norwegian government was asking the low-cost airline how Norwegian it really was. Not enough to get a second bailout was the government’s conclusion, The Irish Times reported in a commentary. The nationality of a company can often seem unimportant. Businesses are founded in one country, move to a second and can list on the stock exchange in a third, all while their main business could be in a fourth.

An application by bankrupt businessman Sean Dunne to vary an order requiring him to pay €7,000 a month for the benefit of creditors in his Irish bankruptcy was heard in private at the High Court on Thursday, The Irish Times reported. The private hearing was sought by Edward Farrelly SC, for Mr Dunne’s Irish bankruptcy trustee, arising from matters referred to by Mr Dunne in a sworn affidavit. Mr Dunne, representing himself, opposed the matter being heard in camera.

Norwegian Air was given additional creditor protection by a court in Norway on Tuesday on top of that granted by an Irish judge on Monday, allowing the cash-strapped airline’s restructuring efforts to continue, Reuters reported. “A supplementary reconstruction process under Norwegian law will be to the benefit of all parties and will increase the likelihood of a successful result,” Chief Executive Jacob Schram said. Norwegian said it could now move forward with the dual-track process.

The Commercial Court is being asked to set aside the purported transfer of assets by businessman Alistair Tidey to his wife, Jane. The action has been brought by the deputy official assignee in bankruptcy arising out of purported transfers between the couple, one of which was described as a “sham” designed to put assets beyond the reach of Mr Tidey’s creditors, The Irish Times reported. The case was admitted to the fast-track Commercial Court list on Monday.

Ireland’s High Court on Monday granted creditor protection to Norwegian Air and its Irish subsidiaries, allowing the Oslo-based airline more time to restructure its massive debt, Reuters reported. Norwegian last month asked the court to begin a so-called examinership legal process as the carrier seeks to stave off collapse amid the coronavirus pandemic. The judge said he had agreed to protection of Oslo-based Norwegian Air as well as its Irish subsidiaries as the survival of each was dependent on the survival of the other.

Ten years ago today, Ireland went into the arms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Following weeks of speculation, rumours and semi-denial, the government accepted the inevitable. Economic sovereignty was lost, The Irish Times reported. It was the most extraordinary and the most depressing moment in Irish economic history.