Accept my deal or quit, Lenihan to tell bankers

moonpurple

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan is going to seize control of the country's biggest bank -- and tell its top executives to leave if they cannot work under the new regime

irish independant

a defining moment, he must take control of these men

:cool:

rightwingdub

I'd much prefer if the bankers were lined up against anf fired upon with paintballs and then jailed in devils island for the rest of their natural lives:D.

Hopefully, Lenihan will grow some backbone when it comes to the bankers tomorrow.

Eutow

rightwingdub wrote: »

I'd much prefer if the bankers were lined up against anf fired upon with paintballs and then jailed in devils island for the rest of their natural lives:D.

Hopefully, Lenihan will grow some backbone when it comes to the bankers tomorrow.

Yeah, make the best of what we offer you, and you will suffer less than you deserve.

dr.bollocko

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/accept-my-deal-or-quit-lenihan-to-tell-bankers-2115525.html

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan is going to seize control of the country's biggest bank -- and tell its top executives to leave if they cannot work under the new regime.

His uncompromising stance will kick off a momentous week for Irish banking and the economy, after AIB spent the weekend fighting the Government's plan to take control.

In an address to the Dail on the banking crisis, Mr Lenihan will reveal that taxpayers may have to pump as much as €16bn into the banks -- among them Anglo Irish -- to keep them afloat.

That is in addition to the €11bn already spent on propping up the two main banks -- AIB and Bank of Ireland -- and Anglo Irish Bank last year.

The Government will tomorrow signal its intention to take a majority stake in AIB when details of the NAMA discounts or 'haircuts' are also released.

While building society Irish Nationwide will have the worst discount at 60pc, AIB is set to be hit with a discount of up to 40pc, making majority State control all but inevitable.

The NAMA discounts were scheduled to be released today, but last night they were delayed once again by 24 hours. They will now appear on the same day as the minister's speech.

Financial results for Anglo and Bank of Ireland will follow on Wednesday.

The bankers, however, will be relieved to hear that the Finance Minister will not go for full-scale nationalisation.

Mr Lenihan's warning will be a direct challenge to top AIB executives, who are still not behind his plan to take a 70pc stake in the lender.

He may have to deliver his 'state of the nation' speech tomorrow without the support of the bank, unless last-ditch talks are successful.

At the weekend, both sides were at loggerheads, with divisions deepening. Mr Lenihan avoided questions last night over whether he wants further changes at the top of AIB.

However, tomorrow he will adopt an uncompromising stance, saying that if executives cannot live with a government stake of more than 70pc, they have the option to move on.

A source said the bank had still not found a solution and both sides were far apart. It is understood AIB believes the Government is demanding too high capital levels and that it is seeking to impose them too soon. But the Government has been telling the banks the capital levels are set by the Financial Regulator and they cannot force a change upon him.

Discounts

The managing director of AIB, Colm Doherty, warned this month that he would prefer to first try and sell some assets, then do a rights issue. Only then would he turn to the Government for the additional funding.

But the Government is becoming concerned about the length of time it is taking to solve the banking crisis and wants to draw a line under the problem. The scale of discounts AIB's loans are taking has also forced its hand.

Speculation is now rife about whether Mr Doherty will remain in place under a government regime that is likely to hugely curb the bank's independence.

In an interview in the 'Sunday Business Post' yesterday, Mr Lenihan refused to comment on whether he envisaged any further change at AIB as part of the recapitalisation plan.

But the Government is clear that bank executives who are unwilling to live with a new regime may simply depart. A senior government source said yesterday: "I'd assume they may fall on their swords in time."

The Regulator is forcing the banks to hold higher capital buffers because he believes mortgage losses are going to escalate, posing a fresh challenge for bank balance sheets.

While AIB is set to come under government control soon, Bank of Ireland is likely to use a rights issue to limit the State's stake to below 50pc.

- Emmet Oliver Deputy Business Editor

Irish Independent

Mr.Micro

Is that a good thing or a bad thing that Mr. Lenihan " is going to seize control of the country's biggest bank -- and tell its top executives to leave if they cannot work under the new regime"?

Since it was the FF Government who stoked the flames and oversaw the fiasco via Central bank and the inept Financial regulator...... I do not have any confidence in this Government handling the banks. I suspect that Mr. Lenihan has found it nigh on impossible to deal with the Sharks, I mean Bankers, as they continue to look out for themselves and their shareholders . Is this his way of admitting that he should have nationalized the lot of them at the start and would maybe it would have been a whole lot cheaper?

Liam Byrne

Funny that he's doing this NOW, after all of the (presumably irreversible) objectionable bits and pay-rises have already been given the go-ahead......

Smells like a PR stunt to me......

who_ru

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Smells like a PR stunt to me......

Exactly it's been well coreographed by now i'd say.

B Lenihan to bankers "guys i'm in a tight spot here with throwing billions upon billions of other people's money to fix your huge losses due to our woeful regulation"

Bankers: " ok dickhead what do you want us to do then?"

B Lenihan " i'm going to give you a bollocking in public to make it look like you are in big trouble and also to make it look like i'm in charge and crucially to make it look like i know what i'm doing"

Bankers "ok we can go along with that now hand over the money before we beat you around the head"

B Lenihan " ah thanks guys"

moonpurple

i think it is going to be the end of the fianna fail party or the end of the banker party..

I hope he has the salt to do it

they broke his health in the first place

this time I hope it is a fianna fail outcome..

a lot done more to do:cool:

a nephew of mine is in a school in dublin, a son of a banker is lording it over everybody like in a central american country the way that the son of the generals in power would.... it is going to be us or the bankers

Sand

This is just spin, much like the "victory" over Doherty's appointment in AIB which focused on the pay cap and happily distracted the plebs from noticing the AIB had forced an AIB insider into a position where Lenihan had demanded an open and fresh culture to replace the previous cabal of insider.

Lenihan was panicked in Sept 2008 by the bankers, and has been on the backfoot ever since. They have run circles around him and literally dictated the terms of their own bailout. If Lenihan ends up as taking control of AIB, the spin will focus on the "decisive" and "stern" Lenihan sorting out dem criminal bankers, whilst again ignoring that Lenihan has pursued the most expensive path towards nationalisation whilst retaining the same insiders who caused AIBs crisis in the first place - at taxpayer expense.

raindog.promo

The cynic in me believes this to be spin.

The deals between Lenihen and the bankers have been well hammered out a long time ago.