Australian bank to bear £22m loss

THE Australian owners of the Northern Bank will have to bear the cost of the £22 million (€30m) robbery in Belfast, it emerged yesterday.

The National Australia Bank confirmed it had no external insurance policy to offset the losses for Britain’s biggest bank raid.

The bank also confirmed initial audits showed around £20m was seized by the gang behind the heist. But the owners insisted the robbery would have no knock-on effect for the sale of the Northern to the Danish Danske Bank Group announced earlier this month.