Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Finance the amount of taxpayers' money that has been given to AIB for the purpose of writing down mortgages; the amount that has been used by this bank for that purpose; if he has satisfied himself that the bank is utilising such public funds for the purpose they were given; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43205/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, the Irish banks were required to raise €24.0bn in capital following the 2011 Prudential Capital Assessment Review (PCAR) in order to remain above a minimum capital target of 10.5% Core Tier 1 in the base scenario and 6% Core Tier 1 in the stress Scenario. The Central Bank made its decision on required recapitalisation based on loan-loss projections along with further calculations concerning the prospective income, expenditure, and deleveraging plans of the banks as outlined in the 2011 Financial Measures Programme (FMP) Report.

In order to arrive at a stressed loan-loss estimate that was fully credible to the international markets, the Central Bank engaged BlackRock Solutions, a specialist in analysing potential loan losses under stressed conditions. However I must again reiterate that the stress test scenarios were designed to represent extreme but plausible events, but they were not forecasts.