NAMA to spend €34bn (UPDATE: less than €32bn) buying loans (down from €40bn in the June business plan).

When NAMA presented its draft Business Plan in October 2009, it showed that NAMA intended purchasing €77bn of loans (at par value) for €54bn. In the June 2010 Business Plan this has changed and NAMA was then planning to purchase €81bn of loans for €40.5bn. With the statement from the Minister for Finance this morning [...]

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Why today’s announcements do not bring absolute finality. But do they bring sufficient finality?

As I write this entry this morning, the yield on Irish 10-year bonds is showing as 6.66% and indeed the devil may be lurking in the detailed workings which support the estimates published this morning. At this point there are a few concerns: 1. Anglo’s remaining €19bn of NAMA loans (at face value) are to [...]

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NAMA scope and operations significantly altered

From the Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan’s statement this morning. 1. Loans of less than €20m not being transferred in respect of AIB and BoI (€5m remains for Anglo and presumably the no-lower-limit remains for INBS and EBS) 2. NAMA debtors to drop from 1500 to 850 3. NAMA to abandon tranches, replaced with one [...]

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UK House Prices up 0.1% month on month

The Nationwide Building Society has this morning published its UK House Price data for September 2010 together with its more detailed Quarter 3 House Price Review. The Nationwide tends to be the first of the two UK building societies (the other being the Halifax) to produce house price data each month, it is one of [...]

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Anglo’s “final cost” €29.3-34.3bn, AIB to need another €3bn++, INBS – who knows?

The Central Bank has issued a joint statement by the Central Bank Governor, Patrick Honohan and Financial Regulator, Matthew Elderfield, two of the more respected men in the Irish regulatory system and relatively new appointments (September 2009 for Patrick and January 2010 for Matthew). The statements deal with the costs of bailing out Irish banks. [...]

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The Q2 NAMA Quarterly Report and accounts – 14 things to look out for.

If the timetable for NAMA’s first quarterly report and accounts is anything to go by, then it would seem that the second quarterly accounts will be made public on 6th or 7th of October, 2010 having been delivered by NAMA to the Department of Finance by close of business tomorrow. The first quarterly report and [...]

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NAMA to own €2.4bn of undeveloped land in Northern Ireland

Or more accurately €2.4bn of face-value loans secured by undeveloped land. And before you start translating that into 0.4m acres at GBP £5k/acre remember that this land would probably have been valued with development potential when the loan was first secured. Nonetheless it is a very significant amount of property, and is to be but [...]

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How to earn money from NAMA

It is unclear exactly how much NAMA is spending on staff and contract services. The draft Business Plan suggested it was €240m in the first year and €2.6bn over the 10-year expected life-span. On 29th, September 2010, Minister for Finance Brian Lehihan told the Oireachtas that NAMA would spend €215m on third party contracts in [...]

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NAMA Chairman Frank Daly speaks to the BBC (briefly!)

Yesterday the BBC’s Business Editor Robert Peston (the laid-back voice of the British recession) was in town where he seems to have found time for a few of the key players in the financial architecture as we confront a pretty difficult week on bond markets and with a final Anglo estimate due not to mention [...]

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Is NAMA beginning to improve lending conditions in the State?

Sometimes I despair at the public sector – compare the websites of two State bodies, the recently formed Credit Review Office and NAMA. News this morning from the Independent that the former body has received 20 applications in the past 6 months from business borrowers denied loans at the NAMA banks – 20 applications! NAMA [...]

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