ECB plan ‘to exclude tracker mortgages’

It is unlikely that Irish banks will be able to offload their loss-making tracker mortgages using the ECB’s asset-backed securities (ABS) programme.

The ECB president, Mario Draghi, unveiled a new set of measures to stoke economic activity across the eurozone at the bank’s September monthly meeting, including a programme to purchase asset-backed securities.

The three domestic banks — Bank of Ireland, AIB and Permanent TSB — have just under €50bn of loss-making tracker mortgages sitting on their balance sheets.