Breaking up Anglo

I’ve started re-examining the documents released by the Department of Finance in advance of the banking inquiry (remember that?). There are lots of interesting bits, and I will return to many of them. But here is one and it relates to the current events around breaking up Anglo – and the ideas of selling off deposit books mooted some time ago by some economists.

In September 2008, the Government was considering selling the deposit book of Irish Nationwide. Direct link here. In that month, there were four options listed:

1. Do nothing.
2. Ensure an orderly run-off of INBS
3. Break-up of INBS
4. Merge INBS with another institution.

None of these appear to have been acted on, but instead the entire building society, deposits and creditors, was guaranteed.

Merrill Lynch clearly advised that only senior creditors and depositors might be guaranteed, but this action would have clear dangers for sovereign credit ratings. Here is the passage.

Here is part one of the released DoF documents. I’ve marked each document using DocumentCloud. I hope to move away from using Scribd. To view the notes on the document you have to expand it to full screen using the button on the bottom left, or click the notes tab on the top.