Comments on: The Anglo spin begins http://thestory.ie/2010/03/25/the-anglo-spin-begins/ Sun, 20 May 2012 19:29:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: cha http://thestory.ie/2010/03/25/the-anglo-spin-begins/comment-page-1/#comment-3770 cha Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:25:12 +0000 http://thestory.ie/?p=1538#comment-3770 @rubensni Thanks so much for that makes much more sense now, christ. i agree with your second comment either option isnt very reassuring either. @rubensni
Thanks so much for that makes much more sense now, christ. i agree with your second comment either option isnt very reassuring either.

]]> By: rubensni http://thestory.ie/2010/03/25/the-anglo-spin-begins/comment-page-1/#comment-3726 rubensni Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:03:17 +0000 http://thestory.ie/?p=1538#comment-3726 The stage managed nature of the arrests and the usefulness of dawn raids two years on from the day the cracks first began to show in Anglo is either gross incompetence in policing or good PR. The stage managed nature of the arrests and the usefulness of dawn raids two years on from the day the cracks first began to show in Anglo is either gross incompetence in policing or good PR.

]]> By: rubensni http://thestory.ie/2010/03/25/the-anglo-spin-begins/comment-page-1/#comment-3723 rubensni Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:54:27 +0000 http://thestory.ie/?p=1538#comment-3723 @cha: If Anglo had been allowed to go to the wall and no blanket guarantee had been given back in September 2008, the state would have had to nationalise AIB and Bank of Ireland that night as Anglo would have taken them down with it. Whether that drastic course of action would have been preferable is the great unknown. I certainly think it would have been, and it would have been a lot cheaper for the taxpayer, but hindsight is 20/20. Today, we're stuck with Anglo because of both the blanket bank guarantee and nationalisation. The state absolutely guarantees the banks deposits and bondholders and would have to pay out if the banks went bust. In addition, the fact that Anglo is nationalised adds a second layer as this means a default by Anglo would be undoubtedly viewed as a default by the state - in other words we would be passing the bond markets' event horizon - and Ireland have to be bailed out by other EU states or the IMF. We either wind it up, or keep it going, but either will cost billions. There's no way out :( @cha: If Anglo had been allowed to go to the wall and no blanket guarantee had been given back in September 2008, the state would have had to nationalise AIB and Bank of Ireland that night as Anglo would have taken them down with it. Whether that drastic course of action would have been preferable is the great unknown. I certainly think it would have been, and it would have been a lot cheaper for the taxpayer, but hindsight is 20/20.

Today, we’re stuck with Anglo because of both the blanket bank guarantee and nationalisation. The state absolutely guarantees the banks deposits and bondholders and would have to pay out if the banks went bust. In addition, the fact that Anglo is nationalised adds a second layer as this means a default by Anglo would be undoubtedly viewed as a default by the state – in other words we would be passing the bond markets’ event horizon – and Ireland have to be bailed out by other EU states or the IMF. We either wind it up, or keep it going, but either will cost billions. There’s no way out :(

]]> By: cha http://thestory.ie/2010/03/25/the-anglo-spin-begins/comment-page-1/#comment-3707 cha Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:00:44 +0000 http://thestory.ie/?p=1538#comment-3707 Apologies if this is a stupid question or one that requires too long an answer but can anyone tell me what would have been the consequences for 'normal' people in ireland if anglo irish had been allowed go tits up, and having already put billions is this just throwing good money after bad or is there an obligation to stay the course, legally or pragmiatically? (I no longer live in Ireland so often miss bits of the different stories, explanations etc) Apologies if this is a stupid question or one that requires too long an answer but can anyone tell me what would have been the consequences for ‘normal’ people in ireland if anglo irish had been allowed go tits up, and having already put billions is this just throwing good money after bad or is there an obligation to stay the course, legally or pragmiatically? (I no longer live in Ireland so often miss bits of the different stories, explanations etc)

]]> By: Angry http://thestory.ie/2010/03/25/the-anglo-spin-begins/comment-page-1/#comment-3677 Angry Thu, 25 Mar 2010 10:29:30 +0000 http://thestory.ie/?p=1538#comment-3677 Keep it coming Gavin. This is wholesale theft of the wealth of the state. The biggest bank robbery in history. Keep it coming Gavin. This is wholesale theft of the wealth of the state. The biggest bank robbery in history.

]]> By: Myles Duffy http://thestory.ie/2010/03/25/the-anglo-spin-begins/comment-page-1/#comment-3645 Myles Duffy Thu, 25 Mar 2010 03:04:19 +0000 http://thestory.ie/?p=1538#comment-3645 Can taxpayers’ and funders of last resort expect Anglo Irish Bank to retain the services of a professional public relations firm to explain (or spin) the record losses that are about to be announced in respect of the year to 30 September 2009? When the Interim Results for the six months to 31 March 2009 were announced the services of Drury Communications were retained to explain the pre-tax loss of €4.1 billion after what had been “a most difficult trading period” in which the Bank “clearly made mistakes in some of the lending decisions”. There was only a single shareholder when these results were announced on 29 May 2009, the Minister for Finance. The founder of Drury Communications, Fintan Drury, was a former director of Anglo Irish Bank during the era when the Bank clearly ‘made some mistakes’. The Bank employed an average of 1,864 personnel in the year to 30 September 2008 at a cost of €206 million. That is an average of over €110,000 per person. Are we to accept that not one of these amply paid individuals was capable of briefing the shareholder? Incidentally, the average number employed in the year to 30 September 2007 was 1,714 and the average cost per person was over €137,000 – three times the per person cost of their counterparts in Irish Nationwide Building Society. If Anglo is convinced that 70 of its staff now need further pay rises, can it be anticipated that those who have borrowed billions from Anglo will also seek to pay themselves higher levels of remuneration to reflect the additional responsibility of putting their debts on a handcart and wheeling them from St Stephen’s Green to NAMA on Grand Canal Street? The Board of NAMA, of course, have also had their remuneration augmented upwards to reflect their ‘additional responsibilities’. If Irish society, as a whole, is burdened with the ‘additional responsibility’ connected to an attempted economic recovery, does this form the basis of additional remuneration for all concerned which might also take into account any additional qualifications particular claimants’ might have accrued? Can taxpayers’ and funders of last resort expect Anglo Irish Bank to retain the services of a professional public relations firm to explain (or spin) the record losses that are about to be announced in respect of the year to 30 September 2009?
When the Interim Results for the six months to 31 March 2009 were announced the services of Drury Communications were retained to explain the pre-tax loss of €4.1 billion after what had been “a most difficult trading period” in which the Bank “clearly made mistakes in some of the lending decisions”.
There was only a single shareholder when these results were announced on 29 May 2009, the Minister for Finance. The founder of Drury Communications, Fintan Drury, was a former director of Anglo Irish Bank during the era when the Bank clearly ‘made some mistakes’.
The Bank employed an average of 1,864 personnel in the year to 30 September 2008 at a cost of €206 million. That is an average of over €110,000 per person. Are we to accept that not one of these amply paid individuals was capable of briefing the shareholder? Incidentally, the average number employed in the year to 30 September 2007 was 1,714 and the average cost per person was over €137,000 – three times the per person cost of their counterparts in Irish Nationwide Building Society.
If Anglo is convinced that 70 of its staff now need further pay rises, can it be anticipated that those who have borrowed billions from Anglo will also seek to pay themselves higher levels of remuneration to reflect the additional responsibility of putting their debts on a handcart and wheeling them from St Stephen’s Green to NAMA on Grand Canal Street? The Board of NAMA, of course, have also had their remuneration augmented upwards to reflect their ‘additional responsibilities’.
If Irish society, as a whole, is burdened with the ‘additional responsibility’ connected to an attempted economic recovery, does this form the basis of additional remuneration for all concerned which might also take into account any additional qualifications particular claimants’ might have accrued?

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