Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 35: To ask the Minister for Finance the reason he is unwilling or unable to name the unsecured unguaranteed bondholders at Anglo Irish Bank who are due to be paid in 2013. [5654/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am not unwilling to name the unsecured unguaranteed bondholders who are due to be paid in 2013. As he Deputy is aware I am not in a position to provide a list of the bondholders who were repaid the gross payment of €1.25 billion. I am advised that the process of issuing new bonds is normally through underwriting, where one or more securities firms or banks form a syndicate buying the entire bond issue from the issuer and then re-selling to investors. Primary issuance is arranged by these syndicates who contact potential investors and advise the bond issuer in terms of timing, tenor and pricing of the bond issue. The bond issuer will likely have little knowledge of the original owners of the bonds; also these initial investors may over time sell the bonds to other investors.

Bonds are usually issued in bearer form which means that the purchasers of the bonds are unknown, with the bonds usually held by a securities depository company (e.g. Euroclear and Clearstream). When paying interest and principal the bond issuer will transfer the required funds to the securities depository company who in turn will pay the funds through to the bondholders. The function of the securities depository company is to receive the appropriate interest or principal payment for the entire bond issue from the issuer and to distribute the required amounts to the individual bondholders. This is a standard process for all such issuances. Therefore throughout this entire process the bond issuer is unaware of the individual bondholders' details.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 36: To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the negotiations between Allied Irish Banks and Aviva on the matter of life insurance products; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that these products would be sourced from the UK rather than Ireland; and if he has made any attempts to advise AIB to seek to source these products from within the State from providers such as Irish Life. [5667/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The negotiation of any other contracts in relation to the day to day operations of the bank is a matter for the management and Board of AIB. On 5 Jan 2012, Aviva announced that its Life and Pensions (Ark Life) distribution arrangement with AIB will not be renewed in its current format when it expires in 2012. As it is a commercial matter for the Bank, any future negotiations/agreements conducted by the Bank will presumably be concluded in a manner which derives the best economic return for the Bank and, by inference, the State.