Is AIB bailout enough to save the day?

THE end is approaching for non-government shareholders of Allied Irish Banks.

According to the Lex column in the Financial Times the decision to inject €3.7bn into the bank from the National Pensions Reserve Fund Commission multiplied the state’s share of the equity fivefold to 93%.

“The price suggests the desperation of the situation. It was only early last year that the state paid almost as much, €3.5bn, for its first 19% cent of AIB. Since that initial rescue, the bank has transferred billions of euro of lousy property loans to NAMA, the Government’s bad bank, and has agreed to sell bank stakes in Poland and the US. But these moves were far from enough to save the day.”