NAMA-style bank to buy foreign banks’ ‘toxic’ loans

A NAMA-style private bank has been set up to buy property loans from non-Irish banks operating in the Irish market.

Mark Duffy, the former chief executive of the Irish arm of HBOS, who has set up the company, will have an estimated €3 billion to buy distressed property loans from foreign banks.

The source of funding is understood to be mainly British pension funds that believe the property market in Ireland will deliver in the future.