ASSET RESOLUTION CORPORATION OFFERS TO BUY FOREIGN OWNED BANKS' DEBT - A new NAMA style asset recovery business is officially launched today, targeting not the commercial lending books of the likes of Anglo Irish Bank and AIB but the commercial loans of the foreign owned banks operating in Ireland. The business is being jointly established by the former chief executive of one of those foreign banks, Bank of Scotland Ireland's former CEO Mark Duffy. He now heads up the Asset Resolution Corporation along with business partner investor Kevin Warren.
Explaining the background to the creation of ARC, Mark Duffy says a number of months ago preliminary discussions were held with some of the foreign banks in Ireland. Those talks revealed two things - the banks 'surprisingly' accounted for about one loan in three in Ireland and they were not covered by NAMA. He said he and his partner Kevin Warren went to contacts they had in the international investment community - pension funds, insurance funds and old, large-long hold money. He said he was pleasantly surprised by the level of support and interest they had in the project. Mr Duffy says that now the new business is in a position where it has secured commitments and funding which has put it in the same situation as NAMA, where it can buy and hold assets for the long term.
Mr Duffy says the amount of money available to ARC is a commercially sensitive subject, but adds that ARC would not be up and running unless it was a 'scale player'. He points out that the foreign banks have €61 billion of loans on their books in the Irish market place.
Mr Duffy also says he is sorry about past lending mistakes while he was chief executive of Bank of Scotland (Ireland).
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MORNING BRIEFS - Computer maker Apple's profits and sales have surged past Wall Street's forecasts, with sales of iPhones and Mac computers hitting quarterly records. Sales of Apple's Mac computers jumped 17% from a year earlier to 3.05 million in the September quarter, above analysts' average forecast of roughly 2.8 million.
*** Oil continued to push higher in Asian trade today with investor sentiment bolstered by Wall Street's strong showing and a weak dollar. New York's main contract light, sweet crude for November delivery rose nine cents to $79.70 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for December delivery gained 12 cents to $77.89.
*** Over 85% of Irish motor insurance companies said that they expect their company to increase premiums in 2010. 18% expected an increase of up to 5%, with 50% expecting increases of between 5% and 10% and 18% expecting an increase greater than 10%, according to Deloitte's annual Motor Insurance Survey.
*** On the currency markets, the euro is worth $1.4970 and 91.24 pence sterling.
