Banks ‘warned of destabilisation’

Dublin: AIB and Bank of Ireland warned the Government that the price banks could have to pay to use the state’s guarantee may be so big it would run the risk of “destabilising the entire bank system”.

This is according to a letter released to RTÉ under the Freedom of Information Act.

In the letter to the secretary general of the Department of Finance, David Doyle, from AIB CEO Eugene Sheehy and Bank of Ireland CEO Brian Goggin, they said: “An unreasonably high premium would threaten the viability of even the strongest institutions.”