“[Anglo Irish] bank was owed almost €12bn by just 20 customers”

At Irish Election both Cian and P O’Neill are looking at the auditor’s redacted report on the shenanigans at the Anglo Irish Zombie Bank. According to the Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, “The publication of these accounts concludes a regrettable chapter in the history of Anglo Irish Bank.” [Concludes? – Ed] Not quite yet.. The detailed RTE report picks out a few choice details

The report said Anglo had about 15 customers who owed more than €500m each and that the size of these exposures increased the risk profile of the bank. The report warned that there were likely to be significant losses in store for individual property developers that would in turn result in significant losses for the bank. It said that the bank was owed almost €12bn by just 20 customers who borrowed for investment purposes and another €6.4bn by its top 20development customers.

Additionally

The report also clearly warned that the controversial €7bn back-to-back deposit arrangement involving Irish Life and Permanent had the effect of grossing up the bank’s balance sheet, boosting its customer deposits and interbank assets but that €6bn of this was unwound within three days of the financial year-end.

The report into the bank on behalf of the Government also found that the bank lost €5.4bn in deposits in one week alone during September.

As a result of these outflows of deposits the report says that the bank was forecasting that it was heading for a cash shortfall of at least €12bn by the middle of October.

And on former Chairman Sean Fitzpatrick

The report also reveals that at the end of September, loans to former chairman Sean FitzPatrick totalled €83.3m. A total of €179m was loaned to other directors.

The bank paid a total of €11.5m to directors in the year to the end of September, including a €3.75m payment to Tom Browne, who retired in November 2007, ‘in recognition of his contribution to the group’.

The report also shows that the bank paid rent totalling €31,500 to ‘close family members’ of Sean FitzPatrick for the use of a property in the UK which was used to accommodate the bank’s staff on a temporary basis.

Anglo Irish Bank Executive Chairman Donal O’Connor said the bank was likely to take a financial hit in the six months to the end of March linked to these loans, as a result of the deterioration in the bank’s share price.

Pete Baker