Anglo Irish Bank rejects the idea of 20-year wind down
NATIONALISED Anglo Irish Bank expects to submit the latest version of its business plan to the European Commission this week, its new chairman said, with the aim of splitting it into a “good” and “bad” bank.
Anglo Irish, which is being propped up by massive sums of state capital and which in March posted the biggest loss in Irish corporate history, is negotiating with the European Commission about the restructuring.
Alan Dukes, who is taking over as chairman next month, has said that the EU had asked the bank to consider a 20-year wind down as part of those plans, but he did not think that option would be a good one.
He has said that the proposed split of Anglo Irish remains the least costly option open to the state despite pressure to wind it down over time.
“We are hoping to conclude the latest version of (the business plan) to submit to the Commission next week,” Dukes said.
“I hope that we will have conclusions from the Commission during the summer and that we will be able to get on then with implementing the plan as agreed.”
The cost of bailing out Anglo Irish, nationalised in 2009 after getting burnt in a property market crash and a director’s loan scandal, last year gave Ireland the biggest budget deficit in the EU compared with the size of its economy.
“I would hope that they (the Commission) will see the logic of the general thrust of our plan. If they want adjustments made in it, that’s something we would have to look at.”