The group chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank, David Drumm, has said that events subsequent to the Government's €400 billion bail-out to the Irish banks have justified the issuing of the guarantee.
Bank guarantee scheme to be extended
Speaking at a financial conference in Dublin today, Mr Drumm said we were living in extraordinary times and, in monetary terms, every day was a soap opera.
Commenting on recent financial developments, he said there had been too much money around, and in terms of lending Wall Street had come down to Main Street.
Mr Drumm said that banking had a natural limitation and banks had expanded and grown beyond their natural deposit base.
But he also said that lenders had to be responsible when it goes wrong. He said that if in a year's time bad debts were much more than had been anticipated, it was the banks' job to raise capital.
The Anglo Irish Bank boss said the bank's ability to make credit available was absolutely critical to normal life. He added that while his bank took a very negative view of the next couple of years, Ireland's fundamentals were still strong.
Asked about an investigation into short-selling linked to Anglo Irish Bank, he said he did not know at what stage investigators were.
