A rebel Labour backbencher has become the third Government TD kicked out of the coalition after he refused to support the bank guarantee and called on the party to return to opposition.

A Labour backbencher has become the third TD to rebel against the coalition after the Government moved to extend the bank guarantee scheme.

ALLIED Irish Banks, the country’s second-largest bank by assets, has a market value bigger than UBS and Barclays, even after its third bailout by the Government.

ALLIED IRISH BANKS PLC executive chairman David Hodgkinson said he aims to complete the bank’s plan to cut jobs by December 2012.

AIB could secure close to €2 billion of the €6.1bn in capital it needs to raise by the end of February by buying back loan notes, at a 70% discount, from the holders of €4.1bn in the bank’s debt.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan is about to inflict more pain on bank investors. Unless they take it, analysts say worse may follow.

Emergency state aid for three Irish banks was approved by the European Commission today.

THE cost of insuring Irish bank bonds against default increased after legislators approved a burden-sharing bill analysts said was harsher than expected.

IRISH stocks closed in positive territory last night following what was one of the toughest weeks ever for the Irish economy.

THE EU appears poised to offer Ireland massive loans the country could not raise from the markets to solve it’s banking crisis.

THE sale by AIB of its Polish unit Bank Zachodni WBK for €2.5 billion has not guaranteed it will avoid falling under state control.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan has insisted nationalised Anglo Irish Bank will not be allowed to bring down the country.

AN orderly wind-down of Anglo Irish Bank will be one of the issues Finance Minister Brian Lenihan will discuss with the European Commission today.

AIB’s detailed stress test figures may be a “significant blow” to the lender’s efforts to raise capital, NCB Stockbrokers said.

AIB may find it difficult to pass European stress tests, as its capital raising won’t be finished before results are due, says Glas Securities, which specialises in fixed-income markets.

BANK shares plunged yesterday as markets across Europe took a battering.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed in principle to make a contribution of up to €500m to the Dublin Metro project.

IRISH banks expect to be informed shortly by the Government how much capital they will need to hold as operating financial institutions.

Allied Irish Bank has launched a bond exchange programme which analysts say could contribute up to €400m towards its hunt for fresh capital, a statement said.

BANK of Ireland and Allied Irish banks could face heavier discounts on their bad loans than previously forecast, it has emerged.

AIB is leveraging the Government’s bank guarantees in a debt buyback strategy which could leave AIB with a net profit of close to €1 billion.

WELL over 99% of stakeholders in ravaged Allied Irish Bank voted to accept the Government’s €3.5 billion bailout of the bank at the group’s stormy extraordinary general meeting in Dublin.

THE Government is likely to have to inject further capital into AIB and Bank of Ireland as part of its “bad bank” plan to cleanse the sector of soured assets, a government minister said yesterday.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan today reiterated the country’s two biggest banks will not be nationalised as Allied Irish Banks revealed it will sell part of its business to raise money.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan refused yesterday to rule out the possibility that Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland may yet have to be nationalised, as market sentiment towards the banking system here continues to worsen.

IRISH stocks continued their advance yesterday climbing 2.6% as details of the government’s bank guarantee sank in.

IRISH bank values have sunk to lows seen only a few times over the last 20 years.

AVIVA, Britain’s biggest insurer, won European antitrust approval to buy a unit from Allied Irish Banks as the two companies team up to sell savings products in Ireland.

HOW to be mean to a millionaire: Quote his €687,000 salary and recall how he was accused of employing a Filipino beautician on €1 an hour.

IRISH share values rose 23% in 2004, with Elan the runaway success that few if any predicted would be the stock of the year.

“AIB hit by scandal over tax evasion”, ran the headline in the later editions of the Financial Times yesterday.

SHARES in Ireland’s two biggest companies — AIB Bank and Bank of Ireland — worth more that €20 billion were downgraded yesterday by Morgan Stanley.

Allied Irish Bank today said it expected low earnings growth this year, despite an “excellent” performance from its Irish and UK operations.

IRATE Allied Irish Banks shareholders in the US, furious at the €658 million rogue trading loss by subsidiary Allfirst, have been told to look to the Irish courts for compensation.

THE ISEQ share index ended 1% lower at 4,186.8 points yesterday in scant trade due to a national holiday.

The president and chief executive of Allfirst, the US division of Allied Irish Banks that was rocked by a €700m currency trading scandal, has resigned

The Allied Irish Banks' shareholder Niall Murphy was thrown out of today's AGM after he confronted management about the £486m (€762.4m) fraud at its US subsidiary.