Banks calculate that two-thirds of those in long-term arrears on their mortgage repayments ultimately risk losing their homes, it has emerged, The Irish Times reported. About 26,000 people are 720 days or more behind with their home-loan repayments, classing these debts as being in long-term arrears. An email from Central Bank economist Fergal McCann, responding to questions from consumer rights campaigners, says information from lenders suggests that two-thirds of the long-term mortgage arrears group have “loss of ownership flagged as the banks’ resolution path”.
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New company registrations dipped to a five-year low in the first half of the year, as the coronavirus pandemic chilled the business environment, The Irish Times reported. But figures from credit risk analyst CRIF Vision-net point to more positive figures in June as a potential indicator of recovery. A total of 9,853 company start-ups were registered in Ireland in first half of 2020, the lowest number since the first half of 2015, when 8,981 were registered.
KBC Bank Ireland’s chief executive, Peter Roebben, has given his strongest indication that the bank may sell long-standing problem mortgages to avoid being forced by regulators to set aside more expensive capital against these loans, The Irish Times reported. “We have to keep the option of a potential sale of the deeper, longer-lasting historical non-performing book,” Mr Roebben said in a wide-ranging interview with The Irish Times.
The High Court has appointed joint provisional liquidators to a Dublin city centre based nursing home, The Irish Times reported. The application was in relation to St Monica’s Nursing Home Ltd, which ran the elderly care facility at Belvedere Place, Dublin had catered for 46 residents, and had employed 65 full-time and part-time employees.
The level of corporate insolvencies in Ireland may peak next year at levels last seen at the end of the financial crisis as the real cost of the Covid-19 economic shock on businesses becomes apparent, according to a leading insolvency expert, The Irish Times reported. “In the short-term my prediction is that insolvency numbers will return in 2021 to the worst numbers of the last recession,” said Neil Hughes, insolvency practitioner and managing partner of Baker Tilly Chartered Accountants in Ireland.
Allied Irish Banks has taken a €1.2bn charge to cover coronavirus loan losses as the country’s largest lender by market capitalisation faces “severe and rapid deterioration” in economic conditions due the pandemic, the Financial Times reported. AIB said the charge, higher than analysts had anticipated, would represent the “significant majority” of full-year loan losses, as it forecast declining interest and fee income this year. Colin Hunt, chief executive, said the bank had adopted a “very conservative and prudent approach” to provisioning in the first half.
A property investor is suing developer Greg Kavanagh for €6.4 million over alleged default on a debt related to loans to his company and personal guarantees, The Irish Times reoprted. Anne O’Neill, Mount Pleasant Square, Dublin, is seeking summary judgment for the money against Mr Kavanagh, of Shaw’s Lane, Bath Avenue, Dublin. She claims he failed to meet a demand for repayment issued last May and has brought High Court proceedings.
Covid-19 flight groundings pushed Ryanair to a €185m loss in the three months to June, as 99 per cent of the fleet stayed stuck on the tarmac from mid-March on, the Financial Times reported. Last year it made a €243m profit over the same period. Revenues tumbled by almost €2.2bn — 95 per cent — to just €125m, while costs only came down 85 per cent. But the airline has been scaling its flight schedule back up quickly since lockdowns started to lift: 40 per cent of flights were due to run in July, 60 per cent in August and 70 per cent come September.
It is hard to know just how close to the edge Government Covid-19 travel restrictions are pushing Aer Lingus. Irish Airline Pilots’ Association president Evan Cullen warned the Oireachtas Special Committee on Covid-19 Response on Friday it was not sustainable for the carrier to continue burning €1.5 million a day with little revenue being generated, the Irish Times reported. Cullen noted such a rate of cash burn is not sustainable for any business. These were common sense points.