Anglo liquidators charge State €295 per hour

Partners at accountancy firm, KPMG are charging the State €295 per hour for their work on the liquidation of the former Anglo Irish Bank.

New figures show the accountancy firm has enjoyed a spectacular property and banking bust, clocking up almost €100m in fees from the liquidation of the IBRC and its work with Nama.

According to figures provided by Finance Minister Michael Noonan, partners at KPMG are earning €295 per hour for their work on the special liquidation of the IBRC with directors receiving €260 per hour.

Mr Noonan further revealed in a written Dáil response to Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness that the hourly rate for the IBRC liquidation for an associate director at KPMG is €220; €190 for a manager, €165 for a supervisor, a senior accountant and a semi-senior accountant and €95 for a junior accountant.

Mr Noonan stated that “KPMG rates are based on Nama-negotiated rates for the relevant services. These rates were put in place following a competitive tender conducted by Nama”.

In total, KPMG has received €76m in fees for its work on the IBRC project, with the numbers of staff at KPMG working on the liquidation peaking at 330 with the number fluctuating as the loan sales have progressed.

The booming business at KPMG resulted in the firm announcing the creation of 330 jobs in late 2013.

Mr Noonan confirmed that €4.5m of the €76m paid out was recovered from Nama, while a rebate of €5m was agreed with KPMG following discussions at his request.

In a separate Dáil response to Fine Gael TD Michelle Mulherrin, Mr Noonan said KPMG has been the biggest winner in the €153m paid out by Nama in legal, consultancy and advisory fees between 2010 and 2014.

KPMG has received €23.58m in fees — 39% higher than the €14.2m received by the second ranked firm, PwC, with the third ranked firm being Ernst & Young (EY) receiving €8.5m.

Fianna Fáil TD, Sean Fleming said yesterday that the structure of the IBRC liquidation deal agreed by the Department of Finance with KPMG “is all wrong”. A chartered accountant, Mr Fleming said it was wrong to agree an hourly rate “for a massive, unprecedented liquidation that is now going on more than two years. An hourly rate is appropriate in a much smaller liquidation, but not one of this size”.

“It is looking like the final bill to KPMG will top €100m for the liquidation. The figures involved are phenomenal. There should have been a sliding scale of hourly rates agreed at the outset. After the first two or three months, the hourly rate should be much reduced.”

Mr Fleming said that he didn’t have an issue with the work not going out to tender as he pointed out, you couldn’t advertise beforehand that a bank was being put into liquidation.