Developers ‘tailor-making’ loans to suit themselves

PROPERTY developers were effectively tailor- making their own bank loans to suit themselves – something that will make the work of the National Assets Management Agency (NAMA) more difficult as it goes through each individual portfolio.

The Oireachtas Finance Committee heard yesterday that many of the 1,000 or so loans which will be transferred from the banks to the state, are “bespoke” in nature.

The acting managing director of NAMA, Brendan McDonagh, explained that “the borrowers had a lot of power” during the “phase of heavy lending”.