Ireland Seeks Solution for Anglo Irish

[Beet]

Ireland's government is seeking European support to stabilize tottering Anglo Irish Bank, hoping to end a recurring banking nightmare that has sparked fresh fears about its national finances.

Struggling with the euro zone's biggest budget deficit relative to its gross domestic product at more than 14% last year, Irish authorities are also grappling with the ballooning cost of bailing out the banks, especially state-owned Anglo Irish—a bill that has already hit €33 billion ($42.55 billion), or roughly 20% of Ireland's GDP.

...

Monday, Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan met with Joaquín Almunia, the European Union's competition commissioner, over Ireland's proposals to restructure Anglo Irish, including either splitting the bank into "good" and "bad" pieces or winding it down over the next 15 to 20 years. A spokesman for Ireland's finance department said the "discussions were constructive." European officials who oversee rules governing state aid to banks are expected to make a decision in coming weeks.

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1st commenter says:

"This topic is best discussed over pints of Guinness."

Seriously though, if Ireland cannot handle this itself, the IMF must enter the picture.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Don't get me or perhaps any of the Irish posters here started on the giant massive money bonfire that is Anglo Irish Bank.

[minionofmidas]

A final solution to the Anglo-Irish question? I thought they all fled the coop in 1921, decamped to England or to other, still docile, colonies?

[Oakvale]

The Anglo Irish fiasco perfectly demonstrates why the country would be immeasurably better off if Fianna Fáil are wiped off the political map in the next election.

[Beet]

Seriously though, if Ireland cannot handle this itself, the IMF must enter the picture.

And do what? Fiscal austerity isn't a problem for this Government (except in so far as it comes to making massive transfers to the banking system, most specifically Anglo-Irish).

As has been the case for some time now, Ireland's economic problem is Anglo-Irish Bank. The government ed up including them in the bank guarantee and hasn't shown any clue how to deal with it since.

The IMF is to come in with a multiyear, multibillion euro bailout of Ireland. In exchange, the Irish government is to complete a comprehensive investigation of final, maximum losses at all the banks it guarantees.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Re-establish the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

[Oakvale]

Re-establish the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The Tories are more likely to sell off Liverpool than buy back Ireland.

[Beet]

Ireland Moves to Split Up Troubled Anglo Irish Bank

"The Irish government, bowing to market fears that its escalating banking losses might cause it to default, said Wednesday that it would split the Anglo Irish Bank into two entities, one of which would eventually cease operations, The New York Times’s Landon Thomas Jr. reported.
...
The current bout of nerves has less to do with liquidity — Ireland has enough capital to fund itself through the second quarter of next year — than the willingness and ability of governments to pay for the sins of bankers.
...
Of the 75 billion euros in loans on Anglo Irish’s books when the government stepped in, only 12 billion euros are said to be performing, according to bank management."

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/ireland-moves-to-split-up-troubled-anglo-irish-bank/

Jezus, a 84% NPL ratio. That must be a world record for a bank of that size. I suppose this is the right move, but there really needs to be a full investigation of the Irish banks and how deep the losses actually are. Not just Anglo Irish, but Allied Irish and Bank of Ireland. The same ought to be done across Europe. If the stress tests did not pick this up, then they were cleary inadequate.

[Јas]

If the stress tests did not pick this up, then they were cleary inadequate.

The stress tests may well have been inadequate, but they couldn't possibly have picked up anything on Anglo Irish as it was not subject to the tests. The only Irish banks so examined were Allied Irish and Bank of Ireland.