Nama appoints head of lending

THE NATIONAL Asset Management Agency (Nama) has appointed British banker Graham Emmett, former head of European property financing at Goldman Sachs, as its head of lending.

Mr Emmett also worked at property company Delancey Estates.

Nama has said that it may take advantage of an uplift in the UK property market by selling prime London properties quickly.

The agency also plans to complain to the boards and chief executives of the financial institutions if loans are not supervised properly by their internal Nama units.

Asked at yesterday’s Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service about Nama executive John Mulcahy retaining shares in his former firm, estate agent Jones Lang LaSalle, which carries out work for Nama, the agency’s chief executive Brendan McDonagh said any conflicts of interest were fully declared and managed.

John Corrigan, chief executive of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), said it would be increasing its banking team from two to five after the Government delegated to it the management of the State’s stakes in the two big banks last month.

Mr Corrigan said that the State could earn “a substantial double digit” percentage return on its investments in Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland if their share prices reached €5.

He told the Oireachtas committee that he did not know whether the State capital injections into Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide would come out of current or capital spending. “Either way, it will be part of the annual borrowing requirement.”

The State has injected €12.3 billion into Anglo – with up to a further €10 billion required – and will inject €2.6 billion into Irish Nationwide. Fresh capital is being injected through promissory notes, or IOUs, over 10 to 15 years.

Mr Corrigan said the management of the State’s ownership of Anglo would be delegated to the NTMA early next month. Asked if he was now “the boss of the Irish banks”, he said he reports on the agency’s banking functions to the Minister for Finance.

NTMA staff had taken an 8 per cent pay cut, he said, but their salaries fell outside Civil Service pay scales and were kept confidential.