A milestone was reached by the National Treasury Management Agency today after it said it completed the cancellation of all Floating Rate Bonds that were issued in connection with the liquidation of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo Irish Bank.
The bonds had been due to mature in June 2053.
The move today means that all eight of the €25.034 billion Floating Rate Bonds issued in 2013 have now been fully purchased and cancelled.
Frank O'Connor, the NTMA's chief executive, said the exchange of the Promissory Notes for Floating Rate Bonds in 2013 allowed Ireland space to deal with its schedule of debt maturities, at a time when the county was coming out of the EU-IMF programme and re-entering the debt markets.
"In turn, this allowed the NTMA to replace the Floating Rate Bonds with fixed rate Irish Government bonds, issued to investors, borrowed at historically low interest rates," Mr O'Connor said.
Central Bank Deputy Governor Vasileios Madouros said the sale of the bonds today - ahead of schedule - represents the end of a long chapter in Ireland's banking crisis.
"The long-lasting scars that crises can leave on the economy and society underscore the importance of the substantial regulatory reforms introduced over the past decade to strengthen the resilience of the banking system," he added.
The Minister for Finance Michael McGrath said he welcomed the news that the NTMA has today purchased and cancelled the final tranche of the IBRC Floating Rate Bonds.
"This development brings to an end a specific consequence of the banking crisis of more than a decade ago and has also happened ahead of the original schedule for the disposal of the Floating Rate Bonds," the Minister said.
"I am also very happy to say that the substantial regulatory reforms put in place domestically and with our EU partners during the years since the crisis mean that the Irish banking system is much better placed to face any future challenges, should they arise," he added.
