Anglo Irish Bank

“Mr Quinn said those responsible were not acting in his name and called for them to cease”

Pete Baker on July 25, 2011, 8:59 pm

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The last mention I can find, in the Slugger archive, of the financial entanglement of the Quinn Group (ROI) Ltd and the Anglo Irish Bank was in June last year – when Seán Quinn told RTÉ’s Prime Time that he had a plan to repay the €2.8 billion the Quinn family owes Anglo Irish Bank within seven years. In April this year Angl0 Irish appointed a receiver to take control of the Quinn family’s shares in the Group and, in May, the Quinn family launched a legal action against …

An exploding plastic inevitable: peel slowly and see.

John Ó Néill on February 9, 2011, 3:18 pm

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Last week I’d stopped short of describing Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour as economic illiterates, but I’m beginning to think even that would have been overly generous now. The front end of the multi-media happening that is the election campaign is currently dominated by rows over 2, 3 and 5-way debates (depending on who is invited and who turns up). Having watched the first (and given that, as a genre it doesn’t tend to get any better), it looks like they are …

Michael Somers on Anglo Irish Bank: “they weren’t essential for normal day-to-day banking”

Pete Baker on January 14, 2011, 4:56 pm

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At the Guardian’s Ireland Business Blog, Lisa O’Carroll spots another wrinkle in the Anglo Irish Bank saga [Michael Somers, the former head of the NTMA] is a bit like the governor of the central bank, Patrick Honohan, when it comes to media. Composed, mild-mannered and long on integrity. In short, a credible witness. Somers explained that the NTMA had, at any point, between €5bn and €10bn to place among 100 banks around the world. Anglo only got €40m of that, …

Heave, ho?

John Ó Néill on January 13, 2011, 2:54 pm

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After a number of false alarms (take your pick), it appears that Brian Cowen may now be under fatal pressure as Taoiseach as his parliamentary party meets at 3 pm today, at which his immediate future may be up for discussion (yet again). Having had to deny any impropriety around his game of golf with Sean Fitzpatrick, formerly of Anglo Irish Bank, he appeared to have just about kept his head above water in the Dáil yesterday. That was until Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, leader of Sinn Féin in …

Having handed the keys to Ireland’s silver to the ECB…

Mick Fealty on November 8, 2010, 5:57 pm

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MOrgan Kelly is back in the Irish Times telling it like it is. And it’s not pretty. The question of why Fianna Fail/Green government chose to bail out high risk investors in Anglo (that notorious subordinated debt) to the tune of £9 billion is now a mere academic question for historians, or investigative journalists and/or restless bloggers. Ireland PLC no longer has that option. Kelly explains: September marked Ireland’s point of no return in the banking crisis. During that month, …

Guido casts a cold eye on Anglo

Aldous Duke on October 15, 2010, 8:39 pm

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Political blogger extraordinaire, Guido Fawkes has set the cat among the Dáil pigeons this evening with fascinating results. Guido has obtained and published a list of foreign Anglo-Irish bondholders as of the close of business tonight. The blogger states: Every child in Ireland is being bequeathed a huge debt at birth to protect the interests of foreign, mainly German, bondholders – why? Guido was once a bond trader, it was always understood that sometimes the bond issuer defaults. That is the …

“Ireland and Greece have no choice than ‘to do fairly dramatic things in as clear a manner as possible’.”

Pete Baker on October 6, 2010, 11:32 pm

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The BBC notes that credit rating agency Fitch have downgraded Ireland’s credit rating from AA- to A+ citing the recently announced cost of rescuing the Irish banking system. RTÉ adds The agency said it was cutting the rating to ‘A+’ from ‘AA-‘ due to what it called the greater than expected costs associated with the Government’s recapitalisation of the Irish banks, especially Anglo Irish Bank. The agency has put a negative outlook on the rating, meaning a further downgrade is …

Brian Lenihan: “It is an urgent and immediate priority to reinforce international market confidence…”

Pete Baker on September 30, 2010, 4:57 pm

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With, as Robert Peston put it, the Irish economy “hideously and perilously balanced between recovery and Armageddon” the Irish Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan, has confirmed that the Anglo Irish Bank bailout will cost between €29.3 billion and €34.3 billion. Additionally AIB and Irish Nationwide will also require more money from the State. The development will push Ireland’s deficit to 32% for this year, according to the Minister for Finance. AIB will need a further €3bn on top of existing State funds being converted …

Robert Peston: “the Irish economy is hideously and perilously balanced between recovery and Armageddon”

Pete Baker on September 27, 2010, 12:13 pm

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As John has noted, the Irish government is teetering on the brink of a lost confidence vote. And the Anglo-Irish Bank’s credit rating has just been significantly downgraded by credit agency Moody’s, just as the Irish Finance Minister prepares to reveal how much more that bank will cost the state tax-payers. But a change in government won’t change the fundamentals. And, everyone’s hero, Robert Peston spells out the scary reality All of which is to say that the banks and the Irish state …

“The pressure is on to re-establish lost market confidence.”

Pete Baker on September 22, 2010, 4:57 pm

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With Irish Government bond yields still above 6%, the Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan, has told the Oireachtas Finance Committee that an estimate for the cost of the Anglo Irish Bank bailout will be published by the end of the month. This will “reassure the public and the markets that the costs of restructuring Anglo, while huge, are very manageable,” he told the Oireachtas Finance Committee. We’ll see… Meanwhile, as some are talking up yesterday’s bond auction, the Irish Times‘ Arthur Beesley had …

“The weakest link? Maybe it’s best not to ask that too loudly.”

Pete Baker on September 14, 2010, 2:13 pm

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The Irish Times‘ Arthur Beesley has been asking some ‘stupid’ questions in Brussels about the Irish Government’s plan for the Anglo-Irish Bank and its dependence on Europe. From the Irish Times Investor types who lend billions to Ireland want final figures for the Anglo wind-down; the Government can’t provide same yet, its credibility over the bank is in some doubt anyway and Europe anxiously wants the brouhaha to quickly go away. But will it? Can it? When people do talk …

Anglo’s Austrian branch used to launder Mafia money?

Mick Fealty on September 12, 2010, 11:43 pm

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Looks like things just got a little more complicated at the end of a very complicated week for the troubled government owned Anglo Irish Bank: Banks in Austria were used to launder about 2 billion euros ($A3 billion) for the Italian mafia between 2005 and 2007, the Austrian weekly profil reports, citing Rome prosecutors. According to prosecution documents, the money was laundered through 14 accounts at Raiffeisen Zentralbank, Bank Austria – which now belongs to Italy’s UniCredit Group – and …