Minister open to orderly Anglo wind-up

AN ORDERLY wind down of Anglo Irish Bank and the creation of a “good bank” out of its loan books are options that “have to be examined”, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has said.

Government policy until now has been that the bank was a going concern.

Mr Lenihan reiterated in the Dáil that he did not see “the prospect of immediate wind-up which is earnestly desired I know by large segments of the population, as one which will benefit the taxpayer”.

But he said, “I do accept that a longer term work-out is an option that has to be examined and the question which the chairman designate of the bank has raised will also have to be examined, and that is the possibility that the exposure to the taxpayer can be further reduced by carving out of the loan book of the bank a good bank from which further profit can be made.”

Fine Gael finance spokesman Richard Bruton had raised the question of an orderly wind-down of the bank and asked “has the Minister moved away from the notion that Anglo is a going concern?

“Has he abandoned that which was the pillar of the Government’s approach for a very, very long time?”

Mr Lenihan replied: “I’m open to suggestions from all parties as to how the costs can be minimised but I think it’s important that we recognise that the bank has to formulate a plan which I don’t interfere with.”

As for the bank remaining a going concern, he said: “That is very important in terms of access to funding for Anglo and that remains the position until final definition is brought to the future of Anglo through the approval of an EU restructuring plan.”

The Minister insisted he did not have a “preferred approach” about the future of the bank and “my only concern is to minimise the cost to the taxpayer of Anglo Irish Bank”.

He said significant further work remained to be done on updating its restructuring plan following the EU Commission’s response to its initial plan in November.

Mr Bruton asked: “When will the House see legislation for the orderly resolution of a bank that’s no longer of systemic importance to this country? We’ve been waiting for that and without that we can’t have proper options on the table.”

Mr Lenihan replied that work was under way on resolution legislation which was “very complex”.

A tailored plan was now needed for each of the institutions and “where Anglo is concerned that tailored plan has to be determined in the context of the discussions with the EU and the structural plan”, he said.