Society least hit with €1bn loans

THE Educational Building Society (EBS) is by far the least exposed of the six relevant financial institutions to the NAMA proposal — with “just” €1bn of the total €77bn worth of loans coming from its balance sheet.

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.