Department official handling rundown of IBRC loanbook

A SENIOR official from the Department of Finance has been seconded to the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation to oversee the rundown of its loan book.

Neil Ryan, a former banker who joined the Department of Finance in 2011, will take up the post on October 2nd.

Mr Ryan will take on the role of head of market solutions, the primary function of which is to “facilitate the deleveraging of the bank’s loan portfolio in the most efficient time frame,” according to a memo to staff from IBRC chief executive Mike Aynsley.

He said that Mr Ryan will report to the bank’s head of corporate development, Tom Hunersen, “in that capacity”. However, he will also join the group executive committee of the bank.

Mr Ryan joined the Department of Finance in July last year. He worked under the current secretary general of the department, John Moran, another former banker who had been brought in to run the department’s banking policy unit in the wake of the banking crisis and wholesale nationalisation of the system.

In his role, Mr Ryan was responsible for financial responsibility and also established a “stability team with a focus on deleveraging, governance and remuneration policy at the covered banks”.

IBRC came into being last October when the business of Irish Nationwide Building Society was transferred into Anglo Irish Bank, which had been nationalised in 2009. The State has injected €29.3 billion into the bank which is due to be wound down by 2020.

IBRC has controversially supported a number of former clients of Anglo, including developer Paddy McKillen and Denis O’Brien. It has also moved against a number of them, most prominently the businessman Seán Quinn, taking control of his business on foot of a €2.88 billion debt.

Mr Ryan’s previous experience includes 21 years in domestic and international wholesale banking. Before joining the department, he was previously executive director at UBS Investment Bank in London and prior to that role held several senior positions in banks in Dublin and London. He holds law degrees from Trinity College Dublin and London School of Economics and an MBA from London Business School.

He will remain a member of the Credit Union restructuring board to which he was recently appointed by the Minister for Finance.