Financial Institutions Support Scheme

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 October 2010

Thursday, 7 October 2010

Ceisteanna (93)

Noel Ahern

Ceist:

91 Deputy Noel Ahern asked the Minister for Finance the cost of assistance given to banks and building societies in the current crisis in the past few years to include investments made to each institution, cash transfer, current, to each institution or promised to each institution and the phases of the promised transfers; in respect of payments to date, the source of the funds, for example, the National Pensions Reserve Fund, current Government expenditure and borrowings and if he will outline his efforts to inform the public that their taxes are not going to bail out the banks as is the current perception. [35600/10]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Finance (Deputy Brian Lenihan)

The various banking interventions by the Government since the introduction of the State guarantee for the domestic banking system in 2008 have served to protect the banking system and to avoid even greater financial and indeed other costs, for the public which would otherwise have occurred. A failure to meet the bank capital requirements could have resulted in bank failures and an even greater cost to the taxpayer. I have outlined the cost of assistance to each of the institutions in the following table.

Capitalisation of Credit Institutions, September 2010

Credit Institution	Cost of Share Acquisition	Cost of Preference Shares	Value of Promissory Notes Issued	Capital Provided to 30 September 2010	Projected Future Assistance	Return on Investment to date	Projected Total Assistance
	€bn	€bn	€bn	€bn	€bn	€bn	€bn
Anglo Irish Bank	4.00	—	18. 88	22.88	6.40		29.28
Allied Irish Banks	0.28	3.50	—	3.78	3.70		7.48
Bank of Ireland	1.95	1.80	—	3.75	—	-0.49	3.26
Irish Nationwide Building Society	0.10	—	2.60	2.70	2.70		5.40
EBS Building Society	0.10	—	0.25	0.35	—		0.35
Total	6.43	5.30	21.75	33.48	12.80	-0.49	45.74

Notes

1. All investments to date and projected for AIB and Bank of Ireland is to be provided through the NPRFC.

2. Promissory Notes — An amount equal to 10% of the principal amounts outstanding will be paid annually from the central fund, the full cost of the Promissory Notes will impact on the GGB in 2010.

3. In 2010, Allied Irish Banks (€280 million) and Bank of Ireland (€250 million) paid the State dividends due on preference shares in the form of ordinary shares of the banks. These are included in the States investment at the value when the shares were acquired by the State.

4. The State received €491 million in cash through the buyback of warrants by Bank of Ireland in April 2010.

5. Initial investments in Anglo (€4bn), INBS (€100m) and EBS (€100m) were paid in cash from the Central Fund.