Bank on it: Challenging times ahead for sector

One can only imagine the exchanges between Bank of Ireland chief executive, Richie Boucher, and the Central Bank last weekend.

The Central Bank had just completed its balance sheet assessment. The good news was that the three domestic banks — Bank of Ireland, AIB and Permanent TSB — were not required to raise any further capital as they met the regulatory standards.

But Bank of Ireland was just about to go to the markets to raise €1.8bn or thereabouts in order to redeem the Government’s preference share.