Nearly two months after NAMA lost its first board member, Peter Stewart, it has been announced by the Agency this afternoon that a second board member, Michael Connolly, has today resigned from his position as a non-executive board member of the Agency. The two-sentence statement from NAMA also contains a note of gratitude from NAMA chairman, Frank Daly who “has thanked Mr. Connolly for his service on the board and commended his contribution during what has been an exceptionally busy and challenging period”
Michael Connolly (CV outline here) was a career banker with Bank of Ireland and specialized in troubled loans, and was appointed to the NAMA board in December 2009 where he was expected to serve for five years. There is no word on why his tenure has prematurely ended.
When Peter Stewart resigned, there was the distinct impression that there might have been a difference of opinion. This came after Peter referred to the mysterious review of the Agency initiated by NAMA or Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, depending on who you listen to – in fact Peter said that it was he that was instrumental in initiating the review by former HSBC banker Michael Geoghegan. The results of the review were famously delivered orally and no-one took notes which might have been made public!
There is no statement yet from Michael Connolly that I am aware of; no doubt the rumour mills will grind in the vacuum. Was there disquiet on the NAMA board, was Michael unhappy with NAMA’s performance and direction, has there been political interference?
So NAMA’s nine-member board is now down to seven. The roles pay approximately €50,000 a year.
NAMA Wine Lake 
Another one bites the dust! It will be interesting to hear why.
@WSTT, no additional statement yet from the man himself, Michael Connolly. He might take his reasons for the premature resignation to the grave…
The Moscow Rules.
Assume nothing.
Murphy is right.
Never go against your gut; it is your operational antenna.
Don’t look back; you are never completely alone.
Everyone is potentially under opposition control.
Go with the flow, blend in.
Vary your pattern and stay within your cover.
Any operation can be aborted. If it feels wrong, it is wrong.
Maintain a natural pace.
Lull them into a sense of complacency.
Build in opportunity, but use it sparingly.
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. (borrowed from Muhammad Ali, aka Cassius Clay.)
Don’t harass the opposition.
There is no limit to a human being’s ability to rationalize the truth.
Pick the time and place for action.
Keep your options open.
Once is an accident. Twice is coincidence. Three times is an enemy action. (taken from Ian Fleming’s novel Goldfinger)
@nwl explanation for another ‘yank’ reference .
Developed by the CIA, the Moscow Rules are an ode to the dangerous locale that Moscow was during the Cold War.
http://www.itstactical.com/intellicom/tradecraft/the-moscow-rules/
@John, thanks, I might have made reference to them on here previously…
https://namawinelake.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/nama-prepares-the-ground-for-another-information-dump/
And if you have a read of last month’s publication of a book by Guardian journalist, and persona non grata in Russia, Luke Harding you’ll see that the rules are still relevant
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/oct/21/mafia-state-luke-harding-review
In fact NAMA and its key developers might learn a lot from modern Russia!
RTE has this story grouped with the U2 site being handed over by DDDA as part of the settlement of the Irish Glass Bottle site disaster but it’s not clear if it’s related to the resignation — could be just the place holder for the standard Friday evening news dump.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/1125/nama-business.html
@Frank, thanks. The statement from NAMA circulated after 5.30pm wasn’t totally clear and there were a couple of requests for further information from here. There will be a blogpost on the NAMA/DDDA transaction tomorrow morning.
First rumours are that it is just part of the preparation for NAMA’s new asset management emphasis next year and Frank’s long goodbye.
P.S. By “asset management” I assume they mean sales.
When NAMA delegates authority to Local Banks to Manage Smaller Debtors who within these banks would be reasonable for the Management of this Process?
Surely Not the Same Bank Managers who advanced these disastrous Loans?
Could Someone Explain it?
@patrick; There’s no rational explanation, but it is exactly as you state. The managers may be moved around like deckchairs on the Titanic but they are the same managers. One real irony is that the awesome much admired (at the time of the celtic tiger) “big swinging d*ck” lender in AIB in a mind-blowing move is now the main debt collector and the “hard man” bully of their credit committee!
@Patrick there is a ‘russian’ theme above, in keeping with that the following may help explain!
‘Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.’ Churchill.
There is no ‘answer’ thats just the way it is.
Attached a piece on what happened to one of the biggest personalities in NY RE during the boom. Fans of BlackRock may enjoy it.A bit churlish of me,having enjoyed the hospitality.
‘During the boom, Wachovia banker Robert Verrone made money by slicing and dicing billions of dollars in commercial real estate loans. After the crash, he made money by restructuring those loans before they blew up’
“Tenants filed a lawsuit accusing Tishman Speyer and BlackRock of illegally raising rents. An appeals court ruled in their favor, effectively dooming the owners’ conversion campaign. In January 2010, they defaulted on their mortgage, sending tremors though the bond market.’
Its a decent primer on the implosion of the CMBS market.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_38/b4195070500566.htm
@john gallaher: It wasn’t just Wachovia and Blackrock, John. AIB took a hit too:
http://www.irishcentral.com/story/news/kellys_corner/irish-bank-aib-now-landlord-of-stuyvesant-town-in-new-york-82587922.html
@wstt ahh the ‘good ‘old days’,if memory serves me more like a ‘slap’ than a hit,50mil was the ‘word’.
‘AIB’s loans, thought to be less than €50m, were granted by AIB Capital Market’s US division which was, at that time, headed by AIB’s current managing director Colm Doherty.’
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/aib-gets-chunk-of-big-apple-after-44bn-default-2031321.html
@john gallaher; “Large loan” Verrone is not that bright. He was in Ireland on a ‘jolly” and has a BIG ego…pushes his image like you can’t believe. He lost Wachovia billions…
He took over for Bill Green at Waschovia when Bill left. Bill was a very clever guy…. but “Large loan” turned up and just imploded them..
He has also hired himself a PR firm, who pushes these articles…
@nwl as usual way ahead,piece out there yesterday by NC,on land swap deal,not overly interesting.
@wstt sometimes its about timing !
Made a few ‘paddies’ some bucks,by establishing the “Loan To Own” platform,allowing us to ‘exit via the gift shop’.
Was a regular in Charlotte at the ‘birth’ of this,First Union was his old shop,they got into a ‘race’ with their crosstown rivals Nations Bank-now Bank of America-Wachovia was a great bank until First Union ‘merged’ bought it.
Similarities with Anglo and AIB.
Greco is ‘credited’ by many people with kick starting CMBS while at DLJ.
‘First Union, the bank headquartered there, had just hired some Wall Street hotshots, including Mike Greco, the former head of DLJ’s commercial mortgage shop-same link.
The book below is considered the definite ‘word’ on it all.
‘Banktown is a tale of triumph and tragedy, an account of crisis in Charlotte’s own Bank of America and Wachovia, told with the ground-zero insights of the Charlotte Observer’s award-winning business reporter, Rick Rothacker. Vivid details and anecdotes humanize the tale, from sleep-deprived bankers analyzing a $50 billion deal in less than 24 hours to Wachovia customers realizing that their mystifying adjustable rate mortgages resulted in their owing more after they made their monthly payments than before.’
http://www.blairpub.com/alltitles/banktown.htm
Thanks, John. I’ll enjoy reading that.
@the ‘snappers’ have me supporting the economy,the sales are on’!
Many people can quote and tell you just ONE number ,on the ‘health’ or otherwise of the US economy,its WalMart’s same store sales.
WM are located in every state, their sales increase or decrease from existing stores is widely considered the best and most accurate indicator of US economic activity,scary huh !
NWL looking for that ‘Bros’ piece on directorships,read it somewhere will find it. Missed your Moscow Rules piece.
@john gallaher, in Ireland we had Anglo and Kieran Duggan was their best lending officer. Trips on the Orient Express, weekends in Venice with the “Horse”, “Phil the Greek” “Posh Paddy” and the rest of the cast from a Damon Runyan novel was nothing like the style and largess that “Large Loan” displayed when entertaining his clients. He was Anglo’s execs on steroids, even hiring a private jet on Wachovia to fly 3 of his clients to Italy for the World Cup. Cost $ 250,000.
Now making money telling the borrowers where the holes are in the loan documents that he drafted. Some bankers have no shame!
@wstt it would be hypocritically of me to comment further!
“Churlish” actually,plus there may be photos,or flight manifests.
Money was a “commodity” with spreads so tight and so much of it sloshing about,as a borrower you could make or break a lenders year.
Aspen,Maui,Vegas,Super Bowl,World Series,Knicks Court side,how about dinner in Jean Georges…on Central Park…no in Paris!!
Those late to the game basically had to “buy” market share,Countrywide which B of A ended up with,were “legendary” for their largesse.
Not the correct forum,but the “smart” lenders were well aware,it became a joke,to paraphrase Chuck Price from Citi.
“while to music is playing you have to get up and dance”
And boy did we dance,just don’t get left without a chair when the music stops,as it always does.
@john gallaher, Don’t get me wrong. I love the cowboys. We’ll never see their likes again. Just no room for cowboys any more – unfortunately the Pinkertons arrived and fenced in the prairies. If you’re a wagon train type of person it’s time to hitch a ride and move on.
@wstt the ‘hubris’ or new pardiganm shift,not sure of you remember that one.
How was your platform,to launch off!!
Was extremely fortunate,to have done great hair around,they adhered to concept of its never to early to take a profit.
Perhaps,biggest difference was tax structure here,everything was set up as a capital gain,so the ‘bite’ was minimal on sale.
She who must be obeyed,is calling herself a NWL ‘widow’ .
Nice slight of hand,by DDDA/NAMA tasty bit of work.