Anglo Irish Bank predicts a record €17.6bn loss
ANGLO Irish Bank said it expected to make a loss of €17.6bn (£10.9bn) in 2010, breaking its own record loss for an Irish corporate, after it released unaudited financial information yesterday.
The grim forecast follows “another exceptionally difficult twelve month period for both the Bank and the Irish economy,” the lender said in a statement.
Anglo Irish also revealed that it has cut its headcount by 16 per cent over 2010 to 1,296 people, yet overall costs rose 14.5 per cent to €354m.
It warned that it “continues to rely on Government and monetary support mechanisms” due to the gruelling conditions in the wholesale funding market.
The forecast loss includes impairment charges of €7.8bn and a loss of €11.5bn from handing assets to NAMA.
The nationalised lender, which the government is in the process of winding down, posted a loss of €12.7bn for the 15 months to December 2009, the largest in Irish corporate history at the time.
The news follows Bank of Ireland’s announcement that it is in talks with the Irish government to help it raise its Core Tier 1 capital up to nearly €2.2bn before the central bank’s deadline of 28 February.