Certus to take over IBRC loans

Nama has announced the successful loan service providers that will take over the IBRC assets that are not sold by the end of this year.

Certus, which was set up to wind down the Bank of Scotland loan book, will take over IBRC’s commercial property loans, residential investment and development loans and business banking loans. The assets have a nominal value of €22bn.

The portion of IBRC’s €1.8bn residential mortgage book that is not sold will go to a consortium of Pepper Asset Servicing and Serco.

The Government liquidated IBRC at the start of February as part of the restructuring of €28bn in promissory notes. It announced following the liquidation that IBRC’s entire loan portfolio would be put up for sale.

Any assets remaining following this sales process would be transferred to Nama. The original timeframe for the divestment of these assets was that the valuation of the loanbooks would be completed by the end of May with the sales process completed by the end of August.

However, on 17 May, the special liquidators for IBRC, KPMG, announced that the valuation process would not be completed until the last day in November with the sales process set to be completed by the end of December.

The transfer of IBRC loans is expected to create a further 300 positions at Certus, although these will be filled by ex-IBRC staff.

IBRC acquired the €1.8bn mortgage book through Irish Nationwide. Both Serco and Pepper Asset Servicing will be subject to the Central Bank’s code of conduct on mortgage arrears, which was unveiled last week. The CCMA provides strict guidelines on how customers in mortgage arrears can be treated and when legal proceedings can be initiated.

Once the valuation process for IBRC loans has been completed, all loans will be put on the market and will go to the highest bidder. All existing IBRC customers have the option of refinancing their loans. If a reserve price is not reached then these loans are transferred to Nama.

Commenting on the appointment, Joe Higgins, chief executive of Certus, said: “We are delighted to be selected as preferred bidder by Nama. This is a significant portfolio and will result in another 300 new jobs being created in Certus over the next 12 months and means we will have added 600 jobs in just three years. Our scale, expertise and proven track record in delivering for our clients were all key to us securing this work from Nama. We are looking forward to working with Nama.”