Banks may get less for their loans

THE creation of the country’s, if not the world’s, biggest property owner got the go-ahead from the European Commission yesterday, but with some changes that will possibly see the banks getting less for their loans than originally agreed.

The way has now been cleared for NAMA, the National Asset Management Agency, to take loans with a nominal value of €80 billion off the books of five of the country’s banks that were creating uncertainty about the true value of their balance sheets.

NAMA will purchase them at a discounted price of €54 billion, but the individual transfers will be subject to approval by the Commission, because the transactions are seen as state aid, with the taxpayer bailing out the banks.