Irish government set to outline banking changes
Last year saw the collapse of the Irish property market which led to weakness in the Irish financial sector and the eventual bailout of many banks in the Republic of Ireland. The National Asset Management Agency was set up to manage assets held by Irish financial institutions and the government took more of a hands-on approach with regards to the banking sector and financial services. So what is the government set to announce today?
The Irish authorities will confirm the future shape of the banking sector after the stock market closes today. There is intense speculation that the authorities are looking to seek greater control over the financial sector which led to a fall of 19.6% in the share price of Allied Irish bank with Bank of Ireland shares falling by over 10%. It is unclear what percentage of the Irish financial market the government will look to take control of but there is growing concern about the fragile state of many balance sheets and the financial sector as a whole.
It is also believed that the Irish authorities will confirm new capital asset requirements for Irish financial institutions and the amount of money which they will be forced to put aside to cover potential bad debts in the future. This is a very uncertain and difficult period in the history of the Irish financial sector although hopefully the situation will become much clearer later today.
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