Political risk as PTSB eyes €4bn mortgage loans sale

Irish bank shares, and in particular those of Permanent TSB face political risks of tighter regulatory controls over sales of mortgage loans in long-term arrears to vulture funds, a leading analyst has said, writes Eamon Quinn.

Owen Callan, senior analyst at Investec Ireland, said that demands for controls have increased as the main Irish mortgage lenders — AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB — pitch their plans to sell off huge amounts of their non-performing mortgage loan books amid pressure from the ECB on Irish and other banks across Europe to get a grip on the problems 10 years after the property and banking crash.