Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 7 October 2021

Public Accounts Committee

2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapters 15 and 16
2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 16
National Treasury Management Agency - Financial Statements 2020

9:30 am

Mr. Conor O'Kelly:

I will get that answer for the Deputy. The SBCI needs equity. It is essentially acting as a bank. As it increases its loan portfolio, which it has done significantly and thankfully over the past few years - lending more and more to SMEs and providing the credit guarantee scheme during the pandemic - it needs more equity capital to support those loans. That equity capital comes from the ISIF as directed by the Minister for Finance. Essentially, there would be a board decision where it seek more capital, the Minister would agree that this capital was required and the ISIF would then be directed to transfer that capital.