Business | Banking
Anglo Irish Bank says European Commission wants it to shut down
Nationalised Anglo Irish Bank to be decommissioned, says minister
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 September 6, 2010
Dublin: The European Commission wants to wind down nationalised Anglo Irish Bank while management still believes it would better to keep a rump open, the bank's chief executive said in an interview in the Sunday Business Post.
"The European Commission is saying, ‘this bank has dropped 25 billion euros (Dh123 billion) and it doesn't deserve to survive', and they're right. But you have a dysfunctional banking system," Mike Aynsley was quoted as saying.
Investors see the escalating cost of rescuing Anglo Irish and uncertainty over its fate as a major threat to Ireland's credit worthiness and the next potential Eurozone trouble spot after Greece.
Political pressure
Science and technology minister Conor Lenihan said on Saturday the bank would be "decommissioned", the latest signal from the government that it is about to bow to growing political pressure to shut down the lender.
The Sunday Times said without citing sources that Finance Minister Brian Lenihan would ask in his meeting with European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia today if Anglo Irish could be wound down over a period of up to 15 years, arguing that a quicker closure would be too costly.
Almunia, who will have the final say on Anglo Irish's fate, said on Saturday he would discuss the matter with Lenihan but did not say what was his preferred outcome.
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