Billy Timmins
Question:114 Deputy Billy Timmins asked the Minister for Finance the amount of funding that has been given to each of the banks since capitalisation; and his plans to give additional funding. [47481/09]
View answerWednesday, 16 December 2009
Questions (109)
Written answers
As the Deputy will be aware, the Government has provided €3.5bn in capital to both Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland, in the form of preference shares, to ensure that each bank remained in a position to meet their function as providers of credit into the economy. €4bn in capital has been provided to Anglo Irish Bank by way of ordinary shares, to protect the economy from the wider losses that would have occurred in the event of a failure of the bank, to protect the substantial deposit base of the bank, and to prevent Anglo from becoming a systemic threat to the financial system.
To date, no other funds have been provided to the banks. However, as the Deputy will be aware, I stated in my Second Stage speech on the NAMA Bill on 16 September last that it is likely that some institutions will require additional capital in order to absorb the losses arising from the transfer of their impaired assets to NAMA and in order to maintain appropriate levels of capital. I also made clear in the speech, to the extent that sufficient capital cannot be raised independently or generated internally that the Government remains committed to providing such banks and building societies with an appropriate level of capital to continue to meet their requirements in a manner consistent with EU State aid rules and the credit needs of the Irish economy.