Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 January 2012
61 Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Finance the total recapitalisation required for the bank formerly known as Anglo Irish Bank; the source of each of these funds and who bears any financing costs in respect of these funds, be it the bank, the Government or some other agency; the overall estimated cost at this stage including financing charges and interest of recapitalising that institution; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4414/12]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware Anglo and INBS have been merged to form the Irish bank Resolution Corporation. For completeness I have included the relevant figures for INBS. In 2009 the Government provided capital in the amount €4 billion to Anglo Irish Bank. The capital was provided in the cash paid directly from the Exchequer. Further, during 2009 it was determined that Anglo and INBS required additional capital. A commitment was provided by the Minister to Anglo and separately to INBS to provide capital of €8.3 billion and €2.7 billion, respectively. This capital was provided on 31 March 2010.
In relation to Anglo, this €8.3 billion of capital was injected by way of a capital contribution. This capital contribution is treated as equity capital for regulatory capital purposes. In relation to INBS, a special investment share was acquired for €100 million in cash and a further €2.6 billion was subsequently injected by way of a capital contribution.
The Government did not pay for these capital contributions in Anglo and INBS with cash. The Government effectively issued an IOU, in the form of promissory notes, to Anglo and INBS for €8.3 billion and €2.6 billion, respectively. As the State had a debt to the institutions, it also had an associated interest charge. This interest charge was set by reference to Government yields at the date of issue on 31 March 2010.
Subsequently, it was determined that Anglo and INBS needed additional capital, which was again provided by increasing the 31 March 2010 promissory notes. The final promissory note increase was on 31 December 2010 bringing the total promissory notes in Anglo and INBS to €30.6 billion. See table below for the increases:
|
€billion |
Anglo |
INBS |
Total (IBRC) |
|
31 March 2010 |
8.30 |
2.60 |
10.90 |
|
28 May 2010 |
2.00 |
— |
2.00 |
|
23 August 2010 |
8.58 |
— |
8.58 |
|
31 December 2010 |
6.42 |
2.70 |
9.12 |
|
25.30 |
5.30 |
30.60 |
When the final capital contribution was made on 31 December 2011 an interest holiday was inserted into each of the promissory notes which meant that between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2012 no interest was payable. Absent the interest holiday the weighted average interest rate on these promissory notes would have been 5.8%. However, as a result of the insertion of the interest holiday the weighted average interest rate from 1 January 2013 is 8.2%.
While there was an interest holiday this does not affect the promissory note repayments of the principal amount. The cash flows on the promissory notes are 10% (€3.06 billion) of the original amount per annum until the full amount is repaid. Set out below is a detailed aggregated schedule of capital repayments and interest payments on the promissory notes.
|
€bn |
Total Interest Paid: A |
Total Capital Reduction: B |
Repayments: A + B |
|
31/03/2011 |
0.55 |
2.51 |
3.06 |
|
31/03/2012 |
— |
3.06 |
3.06 |
|
31/03/2013 |
0.49 |
2.57 |
3.06 |
|
31/03/2014 |
1.84 |
1.22 |
3.06 |
|
31/03/2015 |
1.75 |
1.31 |
3.06 |
|
31/03/2016 |
1.65 |
1.41 |
3.06 |
|
31/03/2017 |
1.55 |
1.51 |
3.06 |
|
31/03/2018 |
1.44 |
1.62 |
3.06 |
|
31/03/2019 |
1.32 |
1.74 |
3.06 |
|
31/03/2020 |
1.19 |
1.87 |
3.06 |
|
31/03/2021 |
1.06 |
2.00 |
3.06 |
|
31/03/2022 |
0.91 |
2.15 |
3.06 |
|
31/03/2023 |
0.75 |
2.31 |
3.06 |
|
31/03/2024 |
0.57 |
1.52 |
2.09 |
|
31/03/2025 |
0.45 |
0.47 |
0.91 |
|
31/03/2026 |
0.39 |
0.52 |
0.91 |
|
31/03/2027 |
0.33 |
0.58 |
0.91 |
|
31/03/2028 |
0.26 |
0.65 |
0.91 |
|
31/03/2029 |
0.19 |
0.73 |
0.91 |
|
31/03/2030 |
0.10 |
0.81 |
0.91 |
|
31/03/2031 |
0.01 |
0.05 |
0.05 |
|
16.8 |
30.6 |
47.4 |
*These numbers may not tot exactly as a result of rounding
As set out above, the total interest cost for the State for all tranches of the Anglo and Irish Nationwide promissory notes is €16.8 billion with annual repayments of €3.06 billion per annum until 2023, reducing thereafter until 2031 when the final repayment is made. These annual repayments reduce over time as the various tranches of the promissory notes are repaid. The final payment on the promissory notes of circa €0.1 billion will be made on 31 March 2031. The total cost of the promissory notes including the principle amount and interest will be €47.4 billion over the life of the promissory notes.
The Deputy will be aware that the funds which become available to the State as a result of borrowing undertaken by the Exchequer are not generally assigned to one particular area of expenditure. Rather they are available, along with the funds sourced from revenues such as tax revenue, non-tax revenue and capital receipts, to fund overall expenditure. Accordingly, there was no one tranche of borrowing that was undertaken solely for the purpose of funding the Promissory Note payments to Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society.
The draw downs of funds so far under the Joint EU/IMF Programme of Financial Support have been used for a range of different purposes including of course the general running of the day-to-day operations of the State. It is not possible therefore to isolate borrowings undertaken to fund the Promissory Note payments or their costs. However, for illustrative purposes, on the basis of the original 5.8% blended average interest rate which applied to borrowing under the Programme, the interest costs on borrowing of €3,060 million would be just under €180 million per annum. In light of the recently agreed reduction in interest rates on funding available under the Joint EU/IMF Programme of Financial Support however, the estimated interest cost on such borrowing reduces to approximately €115 million per annum.
While the State has budgeted to meet both the interest and cash requirements I am eager to have the Promissory Notes examined to see if they can be re-engineered in a better way for the State, for example, by lengthening their maturity and reducing the interest rate on them. This examination, which has commenced, will have to be completed in a manner which does not impact on the capital position of Anglo. The Troika have recently agreed to engage with us at a technical level to prepare a common paper which will examine the various options in terms of structure, interest rate, duration etc. with a view to reducing the overall cost to the State. In tandem with this the Government is engaging at a political level, with the ECB, the Commission and across Member States to garner support in this regard.
