The Minister for Finance, Mr. Brian Lenihan, TD has confirmed today that an additional €2 billion is being made available to Anglo Irish Bank to support the capital position of the bank.
This capital injection is in line with the Minister's statement to the Dáil on the 30th March 2010, when he pointed out that the bank would need further capital to cover future losses and accomplish the restructuring of the bank and its balance sheet. This capital contribution was also approved by the European Commission last March.
The capital requirement arises out of additional losses resulting from the level of the discount on the first tranche of Anglo's loans transferred to NAMA and further impairments on the remaining loan book. The Minister has previously provided €4 billion in 2009 and €8.3 billion by way of a Promissory Note to the Bank on the 31st March 2010.
At that time the Minister indicated that additional capital could be of the order of a further €10 billion. The €2 billion announced today is part of that anticipated capital requirement. The amount of further capital that will be required is dependant on a number of factors including the discount applicable to future tranches of assets transferred to NAMA and further losses on the bank's non-NAMA loan book
The capital support is being provided by the State in the form of a promissory note, payable over a number of years into the future. In essence this means the amount will be paid over a period of 10 to 15 years, thereby reducing the impact on the Exchequer this year and stretching the payments into the future.
Anglo's restructuring plan is being submitted to the European Commission today. Discussions between the Commission, the Department and the Bank on the restructuring plan will continue and the future of the bank will be determined by those discussions. As the Minister stated last March the overriding objective of the Government is to minimise the cost to the taxpayer of the restructuring of Anglo Irish Bank.
Article Published: 31/05/2010