ECB should give Irish banks relief over bad loans, says KBC Ireland chief

Bank plans to conclude tracker-mortgage scandal redress no later than end of June

KBC Bank Ireland’s profit fell almost a fifth last year to €227 million. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien

KBC Bank Ireland’s profit fell almost a fifth last year to €227 million. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien

KBC Bank Ireland chief executive Wim Verbraeken has said the country’s banks, currently selling billions of euro of soured debt to meet European Central Bank (ECB) demands, should be cut some slack by regulators, as much of the loans classified as non-performing are generating cash after years of restructuring.

Cases of loan arrears have fallen in Ireland since 2013 as banks treated distressed mortgages at pace with solutions such as split mortgages, where repayments on part of the loan are put off to a future date. However, such arrangements continue to be classified as non-performing loans (NPLs) under strict criteria used by the ECB, which supervises euro-zone banks.

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