NAMA Operations

Wednesday, 9 July 2014

Questions (49)

Stephen Donnelly

Question:

49. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 127 of 1 July 2014, his views on whether a decision was reversed to raise the threshold for the acquisition of eligible loans by the National Asset Management Agency from Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks on 28 November 2010, the estimate being that NAMA would acquire an additional €16.6 billion of loans with individual values of less than €20 million from the two banks; and if the statement in April 2011 that the transfer of funds below €20 million representing impaired assets from the banking system to NAMA will not now take place amounted to a reversal of this decision. [29977/14]

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Written answers

Minister for Finance

At the end of the term of the previous Government, there were discussions about moving the sub-€20 million loans in AIB and Bank of Ireland to NAMA, in the context of the Programme of Financial Support for Ireland. However, when the current Government took office, discussions were held with the Central Bank and the European Commission and it was agreed that the loans of €20 million or less in the two banks would remain with the banks and were incorporated into the 2011 PCAR exercise. The decision to raise the threshold from €5 million to €20 million for the transfer of loans from AIB and Bank of Ireland to NAMA reduced the total volume of NAMA eligible loans by €6.6 billion.