Wind-down firm key for banks

Certus, the company set up by Bank of Scotland (Ireland) to wind down its €29bn loan book in Ireland, has quietly become an essential service provider to nearly all state-owned Irish banks.

Certus recently won contracts with AIB and IBRC, while it looks set to secure a management contract with PTSB and as Nama tenders for insolvency practitioners, Certus will be among the front runners.

Sinn Féin’s finance spok-esman Pearse Doherty said that he cannot understand why the Government was taking a costly outsourcing approach to managing the banks’ broken loan books.

“What has to be asked is why, four years on from the start of the banking crisis, there still seems to be a haphazard and costly approach to fixing the banking sector,” said Mr Doherty.

“Nama and IBRC, both state-owned, provide distressed loan services. The multiple state-owned banks provide distressed loan services within their own operations. And now we have private companies being contracted to manage distressed loans. This isn’t a banking strategy — it’s an expensive mess.”

Michael Noonan, the finance minister, revealed in response to a parliamentary question that Certus was providing customer case management and assessment services to AIB’s mortgage arrears support unit.

With regard to IBRC, Mr Noonan described Certus’ role as filling specific skills and experience gap in its mortgage arrears support unit.

He said PTSB had a tendering process under way in relation to third-party administration of a portfolio of commercial mortgage loans.

Certus is among the parties that PTSB has spoken to in this regard.

Nama does not have, and has not had, any contractual engagements with Certus, Mr Noonan said.

However, Certus refused to comment on whether it would be tendering for current contracts for insolvency practitioners the Nama is looking to hire.

A spokesperson for Certus said that the company expected to continue to grow in Ireland and that it would be hiring more staff to take on new business.

A spokesperson said: “Certus is a growing financial outsource provider. As we have expanded our client base we have grown the number of colleagues we employ by over 50 since the start of the year.

“This growth is across all areas of the business, both front office servicing and back office support. As the demand for our services grows, we fully expect to continue to expand and develop our business.”