The property investment firm Green REIT has invested €178m in three deals over the past two months, including the IN&M printworks in Citywest and the EBS headquarters in Dublin 4, as well as the commercial portfolio acquired from Danske Bank, according to its interim management statement.

The trial of former solicitor Thomas Byrne has heard evidence that he stole over €10m from EBS Building Society by fraudulently applying for property loans.

The €52m theft and fraud trial of ex-solicitor Thomas Byrne has been shown files showing he paid stamp duty on multiple properties he allegedly fraudulently took possession of.

The head of the Irish Banking Federation, Pat Farrell, has been appointed by Bank of Ireland as head of communications and government affairs.

The UNITE trade union has condemned the loss of 200 jobs at EBS Building Society as "ripping the heart out of what was once an institution of the people".

Staff at EBS Building Society have announced they will hold a second one-day strike on Thursday, January 26.

Three hundred workers at EBS Building Society will go on strike today over what they say is the "withholding" of a 13th month payment.

US BILLIONAIRE investor Wilbur Ross has said he will look at other Irish-based investment opportunities, after his company took a near-10% stake in Bank of Ireland.

THE nationalisation of AIB has been approved by the bank’s shareholders, despite opposition from the floor at its EGM in Dublin yesterday.

AIB has begun an investigation into potential instances of fraud relating to the deposit book of Anglo Irish Bank, which it acquired earlier this year.

MOODY’S Investors Service lowered the ratings on Government-backed debt issues by five lenders, including Bank of Ireland, following its downgrade of the state to non-investment grade this week.

Officials from the EU/IMF/ECB Troika have issued a statement praising Ireland for remaining "on track" with its recovery programme.

A JUNIOR bondholder in AIB withdrew its challenge to a state-backed burden-sharing scheme yesterday as the Government forged ahead with plans to recapitalise the state-owned lender.

AIB is hopeful of raising at least €1.6 billion of its re-stated capital requirements from ‘burning’ junior bondholders.

Bank of Ireland, the EBS Building Society and Irish Life and Permanent have announced plans to burn their junior bondholders.

THE ISEQ rebounded 41.10 points to end the week at 2967.55. Investors sought out bargains after weak performances by many top stocks on Thursday.

CHILDREN celebrating their First Communion are likely to receive more money than their counterparts last year, while the day will end up costing parents more, despite the recession.

INTERNATIONAL credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the long- term deposit ratings of Ireland’s government-protected banks — effectively classifying them as junk status, or non-investment grade.

THE EBS Building Society — which yesterday reported a seven-fold increase in annual after-tax losses, to €590 million — has said that it is open to the concept of “debt forgiveness” for defaulting mortgage customers, but only on an individual case-by-case basis.

EBS Building Society has recorded a massive pre-tax loss for 2010 of €590m.

INTERNET services giant Google has been named Ireland’s most reputable company for a second consecutive year.

AIB has confirmed it is to cut more than 2,000 jobs by the end of next year.

LARGE-scale job losses are expected at Allied Irish Bank in the wake of the bank reporting substantial losses estimated at close to €8.6 billion for 2010.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has denied reneging on election commitments to force major European bank lenders to take a hit on losses.

Anglo Irish Bank announced €17.7bn losses today ahead of stress tests which will uncover the full extent of the black hole across the Irish banking system.

THE EBS Building Society has been taken off the market, with the Department of Finance deciding that the main offer on the table for the lender wasn’t sufficient.

IRISH Life & Permanent may need an injection of up to €1 billion in state funding once details of the stress tests are announced tomorrow.

NEARLY €18 billion of the €25bn contingency fund for the banks — which formed part of last year’s EU/IMF bail-out deal — might be needed in order to recapitalise the Irish banks further in the aftermath of next week’s capital and liquidity stress tests.

PERCHED on a chair overlooking a wood panel-lined room in Dublin’s High Court, a bespectacled Judge Elizabeth Dunne has become all-too-used to hearing from the victims of Ireland’s economic meltdown.

IRISH Life & Permanent (IL&P) has said it remains open to the idea of forming some kind of merger between its banking division and the EBS Building Society even if as expected it loses out in the race to acquire the latter business.

THE EBS Building Society has announced it will increase its Standard Variable Rate by 0.60% (60bps) from 3.83% to 4.43% (4.5% APR) from 1 April, 2011.

CREDIT ratings agency Moody’s has warned that Irish banks could remain outside regular inter-bank lending markets if bondholders are forced to share the burden of losses.

A NEW government is likely to wait until a fresh round of stress tests are completed before recapitalising the country’s top lenders, giving the only bank left trading on the main index more time to avoid state control.

Brian Lenihan said today that the Government is to postpone further capital injections for AIB, Bank of Ireland and the EBS Building Society until after the General Election.

Dublin: The National Treasury Management Agency says there has been no change to the bidding status for EBS Building Society since October, when two bidders were shortlisted for the government-controlled lender.

THE deadline for final bids to be submitted for the EBS Building Society passed yesterday, with Irish Life & Permanent and Cardinal Asset Management understood to be in the final shakeup for the business.

THE Government has injected a further €525 million to bail out EBS Building Society, effectively bringing it under state control.