PTSB FIXED RATE MORTGAGES
Permanent TSB may re-introduce fixed rate mortgages but at rates as high as 7%, effectively pricing itself out of the market, The Sunday Times reports.
Tag: Nama
CIF TAX COMPLIANCE
The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) of Ireland is trying to tackle the rise of the black economy in the building trade by calling for tax-compliant certification for all state building grants.
NAMA PAY DEAL
Developers are still sitting pretty according to reports in a couple of the papers. “Builders get Nama pay deal” in The Sunday Times reports that the top 10 developers – who owe billions to the state and whose assets have transferred to Nama – will be allowed to pay themselves up to €200,000 salary a year and hold on to their homes while their property assets are worked out over the next five to 10 years.
JOHNNY RONAN
Property magnate and renowned bon viveur Johnny Ronan commands widespread coverage across news and business pages in all the broadsheets as his debts – personal and corporate – are laid bare under the Nama process.
NAMA
The country’s top ten most indebted property developers want €1.5 billion in taxpayers’ money to complete projects, The Sunday Business Post reports.
BRINGING HOME THE BACON
Peter Bacon, the economic consultant who dreamed up the National Asset Management Agency and once advocated a cut in the national minimum wage, has charged the Irish Hotels Federation €60,000 for five weeks work. His report for the Federation, published last November, concluded that the country needed to close a quarter of its hotel rooms because the sector was insolvent.
HOTEL CLOSURES
A NAMA source has told The Sunday Tribune that the asset management agency could close down hotels under its watch if they aren’t making enough money.
NAMA is taking over €800 million in loans secured against Irish hotels and the NAMA source told the Tribune that “it may be better for some hotels to shut rather than draining developers’ resources.”
COOKING CHOCOLATE
On the day that the bank loans transferred to NAMA and administrators were appointed to Quinn Insurance, the Revenue Commissioners issued the following press release:
Following a recent determination by the Appeal Commissioner, the Revenue Commissioners accept that cooking chocolate comes within the meaning of paragraph (xii) of the Second Schedule to the VAT Act, 1972 (as amended) and is therefore liable to VAT at zero per cent.
Welcome to the real world!
BANKING
AIB is facing virtual nationalisation because of new rules on bank reserves proposed by The Financial Regulator, The Sunday Times reports. Such an action would mean taxpayers would be forced to invest billions more than they have already to keep the bank afloat.
Meanwhile, Nama officially becomes a reality today when the first tranche of loans are transferred from Irish Nationwide. All of the Sunday’s speculate the original haircut of 35% will now look more like a skinhead, with discounts of up to 60% being paid by the state on these loans.
The rest of the week will likely be filled with banking news as the full extent of the Nama bailout strategy becomes fully apparent. Guestimates range anywhere between €25 billion and €40 billion depending which commentator you choose to believe – whatever the final bill, taxpayers can expect to be footing it for generations to come.
MINISTER TO MAKE A BANG
The “big bang” is the theory that astronomers and physicists use to explain the formation of the universe. It is not a phrase you would ordinarily expect to find on the finance pages of the national newspapers but it has taken up residence there over the past few weeks as we await a series of announcements that will shape the banking sector, and thus the economy, of this country for the foreseeable future. There will be a statement from Nama (National Asset Management Agency) on the amount it plans to pay for the first €17 billion of bad debts it will accept from the banks.
ANGLO IRISH BANK
The headlines just seem to get worse and worse for the taxpayer-owned bank. The latest lurid story involves an alleged €2bn, Mafia money-laundering scheme.
AIB
The state’s biggest retail bank, AIB, operated special units to advance huge loans to property developers independently of its branch network, The Sunday Tribune reports.
TREASURY HOLDINGS
The pin-up of many a middle-aged male fantasy, Johnny Ronan, is reportedly fleeing the country for a few months in a bid to take the heat off his ailing business, Treasury Holdings.
Ronan, 55, has been in the full glare of the headlines since his ex-girlfriend and high-profile model Glenda Gilson went ape about a boozy weekend trip on board his private jet to Morocco in the company of former Miss World Rosanna Davison.
According to The Sunday Independent, the colourful Ronan sat down last week with top PR firm Murray Consultants and he heeded their (probably very expensive) advice to ‘get out of Dodge’.
Gossip columns aside, Ronan is facing far bigger headaches. Billions of euro owed by Treasury will be among the first destined for Nama and the company is deeply embroiled in the Dublin docklands, on which a scathing government report is due shortly.
The company can’t afford any distractions while it is seeking fresh funding from its bankers.
It has also emerged a Treasury subsidiary owes its parent almost €400m. The Sunday Business Post reports accounts recently filed by the Spencer Dock Development Company include a note by directors to the effect the financial crisis was “creating difficulty in extending our banking facilities beyond 2010 and 2011”.
Perhaps Gilson’s comments to the Sindo about her relationship with Ronan could become a metaphor for the nation’s soured dalliance with big developers.
“I had the time of my life with Johnny at the start … after that, no”.
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