Honohan upbeat on AIB and BoI fund targets

CENTRAL Bank governor Patrick Honohan has expressed his confidence in AIB and Bank of Ireland meeting their end of year post-NAMA funding requirement targets and, thus, passing their current EU stress tests – the results of which are due at the end of next week.

He said that the European stress tests should go some way towards removing “exaggerated concerns about some risks” and “have the promise to move things forward”.

“We expect that the banks will meet the capital requirements set out by us, which we believe are sufficient to withstand future stress scenarios,” he added, also saying that the Irish stress tests that both banks have already met were more stringent than the EU versions. He also said that the current bank guarantee scheme, due to run until December, may overrun for a few months but would be wound down over quarters rather than years.