Results 10,121-10,140 of 27,945 for speaker:Michael McGrath
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: But is it the case that since the summer of 2007, the NTMA had started to move deposits out of the Irish banks because of growing market concern about the Irish banks, that there was some soft pressure placed on the NTMA from the Central Bank or the Department of Finance to put money into the Irish banks and the NTMA insisted on a letter of instruction from the Minister, a letter of comfort...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: And was that specific to Anglo or the other Irish banks as well?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: Okay. And the figures that have been reported are essentially that there was about €0.5 billion placed by the NTMA with the Irish banks in December 2007, €200 million each for Bank of Ireland and AIB, €50 million for Irish Life and Permanent, €40 million for EBS and Anglo. Do those figures mean anything to you?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: And was it just one letter of instruction or were there were subsequent ones?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: And can I ask you, Mr. Cowen, was it really appropriate to instruct the NTMA which after all was the independent guardian of the State's cash and who had come to a professional judgment that that money should not be placed in the Irish institutions? And you instructed them, as was your right, to place that money with the Irish banks. Was that appropriate?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: And did you question the underlying reasons as to why the NTMA had a reluctance in the first place to put their money in with the Irish banks?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: On St. Patrick's Day 2008 following the collapse of American bank, Bear Stearns, the share price of Anglo Irish Bank dropped by some 15% in one day. Can I ask, Mr. Cowen, what was your reaction to that? What was the reaction within the Department of Finance and the Central Bank to that share collapse on that day?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: Mr. FitzPatrick?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: And what did he have to say?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: And was that the first you had heard of Seán Quinn's exposure to contracts for difference in Anglo?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: Did Mr. FitzPatrick say something along the lines of what was written in The FitzPatrick Tapesby Tom Lyons and Brian Carey, "What I said was, what was really happening was ... coming ... from the shorters, these guys, the hedge funds, trying to get Quinn”? Was that his message, his explanation?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: Okay, and the fact that there was such a hit to the share price over one day, did you not regard that as the markets passing judgment on Anglo on the business model? Was it a forewarning of greater problems to come ... that the market had lost confidence in that way?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: And what did you do with the information you ... you gathered? You asked Mr. Fitzpatrick to take up the issues with the authorities-----
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: -----and did you personally do anything further on that issue?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: You attended a private dinner in the Anglo Irish Bank offices on 24 April 2008. How did that dinner come about and were you accompanied by an official from the Department?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: Was it informal or were there speeches or ...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: Were you accompanied by anyone?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: And can I ask-----
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: Can I ask in light of the fact that the share price had taken a whack a month earlier and the knowledge that you had learned of ... of Mr. Quinn's contracts for difference, for example, and the serious liquidity pressures that Anglo and other banks were facing, was it wise and prudent to go along to a dinner like that without an official from the Department of Finance from the banking side?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Michael McGrath: And were the pressures that the bank was facing at that time discussed?