Mr. Cormac Butler:

A letter from a vulture fund stating it now owns the loan is nearly as stressful as an eviction, although not quite. The point is I do not think the banks are doing it for reputational reasons. Unfortunately, the ECB has allowed banks, when they sell assets to vulture funds, to bury the loss into reserves and the bank does not have to give details of the loss it has suffered. The ECB has a policy of reducing non-performing loans and seems to have taken the view that when assets are sold to vulture funds, non-performing loans are reduced. That is not a correct approach. It is the approach being taken but it is not the correct one.