Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Agreed.

I refer to appendix 3A of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, which outlines NAMA's views on valuations of its own work-outs. This has been an issue. NAMA, in its rebuttal of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, commissioned KPMG to give it a letter dated 11 May 2016 on two topics - the carrying value of loans and the market value of loans. This will help people to understand where we are coming from on this issue. It states: "The following definitions of market value fro the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors ("RCIS"), International Valuation Standards Council ("IVSC") and the International Accounting Standards Board ("IASB") all share a common theme around market value i.e. ultimately it requires willing participants and well designed sales process." The RCIS defines it as: "The estimated amount for which a property should exchange on the date of valuation between a willing buyer and a willing seller on a arm's length transaction and after proper marketing...". The IVSC defines it as: "The estimated amount for which an asset or liability could exchange on the valuation date between a willing buyer and a willing seller on arm's length transaction, after proper marketing...". The IASB refers to market value as "...the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between participants at the measurement date". The emphasis is on a well-designed sales process. In other words, all those bodies say what something is worth is not what somebody is willing to sell it for and somebody is willing to pay but those two elements combined with a well-designed sales process. That is an issue to which we will return.

I thank the Minister and his officials for their attendance and for the material supplied. The secretariat will contact the officials about sending other documentation to the committee.