| Irish banks need 34.08 bln USD more to overcome crisis |
| Date: 2011/4/6 Click: 2166 |
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Irish banks need to raise an extra 24 billion euros (about 34.08 billion U.S. dollars) in order to tide over the financial crisis, Ireland's Central Bank said on Thursday, unveiling the result of a vital stress test on four Irish banks.
In a statement, the Central Bank said the 24 billion euros are comprised of 13.3 billion euros for Allied Irish Banks (AIB), 5.2 billion euros for Bank of Ireland (BOI), 1.5 billion euros for Educational Building Society (EBS) and 4 billion euros for Irish Life and Permanent (ILP).
The figures are only appropriate in an "adverse and unlikely" situation, said Irish Central Bank Governor Patrick Honohan.
The stress test was based on estimates that in a worst-case scenario the four banks could lose almost 9.5 billion euros from residential mortgage loans over the next three years.
In total, the assessment found that the banks could face losses of 37.7 billion euros over the next three years under the worst- case, or "stressed" scenario.
The test found that Irish banks would need 18.7 billion euros in new capital to meet new Central Bank targets, but the Central Bank also added another 5.3 billion euros to bring what it called "a layer of resilience" in case of possible further losses after 2013.
Honohan said there would be majority state ownership in all banks, adding that this had proven to be one of the costliest banking crises in history.
He said that if the stresses predicted are realized, the total loss in the banking crisis will be in excess of 100 billion euros.
The Irish government has already injected 46.3 billion euros into its banking sector, and nationalized four financial institutions since the global financial crisis erupted in 2008. |
