Lenihan pledges more money to Anglo

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan said the Government will provide whatever money Anglo Irish Bank needs to keep it solvent.

His comments yesterday followed reports the bank would, perhaps as early as today, report the biggest loan loss ever by an Irish bank of up to €3.5bn in the six months to March 31, 2009.

The latest estimates of bad debt write offs suggest the bank would need up to €2.5bn in a capital injection, which is substantially higher than the initial €1.5bn proposed prior to it being nationalised.