Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 30 April 2015

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis

Nexus Phase

Mr. Brian Goggin:

-----to experience. So, you know, I was surprised at the level, as I mentioned in my opening statement, I take cold comfort that Bank of Ireland was relatively better off. That's not the point. But, I suppose when you look at what actually happened here and the scale of the reduction in property values, there was no market in 2010, when I think the first transfers to NAMA occurred. And my recollection also is that the original concept of NAMA, and I was retired when NAMA was created, but my recollection was that NAMA was to acquire assets from the banks at medium-term economic value. I'm not sure, looking back on it, that the discounts applied, and they obviously would've varied by bank, reflected medium-term economic value. Maybe what we're actually seeing today is more reflective of medium-term economic value. But look, the bottom line is, the discounts were significant. It was a significant discount for Bank of Ireland and that's what gave rise to the need for additional capital injections-----