Anglo Irish Bank has written off €308 million it lent 10 customers reported to have been given the loans to buy shares in the bank.
The bank said the losses to “10 longstanding clients” were on loans secured on its stock which is worthless after the Government nationalised the lender in January after a spate of scandals prompted a collapse in investor confidence.
Anglo also said it had taken a loss of €31 million on loans to former directors. The bank said it will seek full repayment of all loans.
“We have provisions against loans to a number of former directors and we are dealing with those exactly as we deal with any other customer," chairman Donal O'Connor told RTÉ’s lunchtime news
Anglo Irish's former chairman Sean FitzPatrick admitted in December he had not informed shareholders about €84 million of loans he had received from the bank.
Other directors had loans of €95 million at the end of Anglo's 2008 financial year.
Revelations of such large borrowings by executives triggered a purge of senior management, including Mr FitzPatrick, and precipitated the bank's nationalisation.
The Director of Corporate Enforcement is investigating the "golden circle" transaction, the directors' loans and multi-billion euro transfers with bancassurer Irish Life & Permanent.
“The investigation is progressing satisfactorily. It is a complex investigation and it will take a little time,” Director of Corporate Enforcement Paul Appleby told RTÉ.