NAMA loans transfer not expected to hurt taxpayer

THE country’s bad bank said the transfer of €77bn of bad loans from the banks should not prove to be a huge burden on the taxpayer, as experts have warned.

Brendan McDonagh, chief executive of the National Asset Management Agency said: “My view is we don’t need a huge recovery (in property values) to protect the taxpayer.”

NAMA, which is an arm of the National Treasury Management Agency, is also standing over its assessment that the average discount on the bank loans will average 30%, which is higher than what the banks were suggesting.