Society least hit with €1bn loans
The company — talked up, for some time, as being a potential part of a future so-called “super-mutual” along with Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P) and possibly Irish Nationwide, that could successfully challenge the dominant two of AIB and Bank of Ireland — posted a first half pre-tax loss of €8.8 million, earlier this week — comparing unfavourably to a €27m pre-tax profit for the same six month period last year.
At the same time, its management said that while there was support for such a “third force” in Irish banking, the building society would need a minimum of €300m from the state in return for its NAMA-bound assets.
While it is unknown how much the EBS might get, yesterday’s NAMA proposals detailed that €1bn worth of loans would be bought from its balance sheet — including nearly €500m worth of bad or impaired loans. The EBS’s half-year results detailed that its total loan book reached €17.04 bn by the end of June — up from €16.9bn for the same period last year.
As much as €13.4bn of its current loan book amount is, unsurprisingly, tied up in mortgage lending with the rest split across residential investments, land and development and commercial property — this latter element valued at €1.2bn. On a geographical footing, the vast majority of the EBS’s lending (be it in the form of commercial property, mortgages or corporate/SME loans) takes place in Ireland with a relatively small amount of loans based in Britain and further afield.
In terms of loan quality, management at EBS maintain that €697m of the company’s loan book is currently “vulnerable” (in terms of the chances of the loans being repaid), with ‘watch loans’ or borderline cases amounting to €603m in value. As of the end of June, the official value of EBS’s impaired/bad loans — those which are unlikely to be paid back — was €407m.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
