Bank overhaul to follow stress tests

PLANS for restructuring the banks will not get under way until the final results of the stress tests are known at the end of the month, according to Finance Minister Michael Noonan.

Negotiations are under way he said yesterday, following a day-long meeting in Brussels during which he met Economics Commissioner Olli Rehn and European Central Bank president Jean Claude Trichet.

In the meantime, Central Bank governor, Patrick Honohan, was in Frankfurt appraising his colleagues in the ECB of his proposal for them to provide insurance to cover bank losses over the amount that would be covered by the state. A delegation from the ECB will be in Dublin tomorrow.