Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 7 May 2015

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis

Nexus Phase

Mr. Michael Torpey:

The organisational structure, Deputy, of Ulster Bank Group, was that Ulster Bank Limited was the parent within that group. It was a bank in its own right and then ... in the United Kingdom. And the two principal subsidiaries then were First Active and Ulster Bank Ireland Limited, each of them banks as well. So the three principal legal entities were those three, which were licensed banks. As will be quite normal in a complex corporate entity, there were a significant number of, what I'll call, minor subsidiaries, owned by any or all of the three aforementioned which will be in place for specific purposes. So there, you know, you will have subsidiaries, for instance, related to property ... property ownership on behalf of the group, if there is a particular reason to do that or subsidiaries to accommodate various complex structures that may have been put in place. They are all, and I think the important point to note, is that they are all wholly owned subsidiaries. Each have their own boards in their own right, but they're single purpose companies, which are consolidated into the headline companies, the UBIL or First Active or UBL, for reporting purposes. So the existence of those companies, while it is to facilitate individual activities or transactions within the group, all of those activities are captured in full at the consolidated company levels.

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