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THE ECONOMIST who is credited with ‘inventing’ the National Asset Management Agency has expressed fears that the agency does not have a “sufficient” desire to recoup the full value of its loans.
Peter Bacon told RTÉ’s Prime Time that NAMA’s mission had crept from being one of taking an active social role, to one of merely seeking the return of its original investment on each loan.
NAMA has acquired over 11,500 loans from Irish banks, paying €30.5 billion for loans which had a nominal value of €72.3 billion – but Bacon fears the agency will now be happy to recoup its own €30.5 billion investment, and not the whole value of each loan.
“That certainly is not sufficient, because that capital injection to the banks is part of the cost to the Irish taxpayer,” Bacon said.
“It’s national asset management – it’s asset management, not debt collection – and I think that culture of debt collection risks costing the Irish taxpayer a great deal.”
Bacon said the reason NAMA had come under the aegis of the National Treasury Management Agency was because of the latter agency’s access to capital markets, and because of its own credibility on the international stage.
“That is not being used by NAMA,” Bacon said. “That’s what it was put there for.”
The economist further suggested that the agency could be taking a more active role in trying to offload some of its overseas property assets in order to mitigate the burden on the taxpayer.
Although the Irish property market remained flat, because of the presence of distressed sellers and the short supply of credit to prospective buyers, similar downward pressures were not present overseas.
Bacon also said reports on NAMA’s operating costs, which amount to around €242m a year – or close to €1 million a day – were “missing the point” given the size of the agency’s operations.
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He produced a report which everyone ignored …
It was not just twenty + large scale developers who lost all sense of reality
NAMA has an operating cost of around €1 million a day? Just how many people are attached to that gravy train either as direct employees or ‘consultants’?
the plain truth about it this nama thing is just another form of corruption
NAMA is populated with economic refugees from the banking and property sector in Ireland who cannot believe their luck in getting a well / overpaid job in the state agency doing what they did before, not much – but it sure wont help much!
From where I sit… This news is old news… It appears, in my mind, that the act of not collecting the full debt is an Irish cultural norm. In general. the Irish culture is either a forgiving or forgetful people. In terms of forgiveness, I’ve noted that politicians, have stolen and benefitted their own lot at the price of the people… To only be voted in again to continue the undue rape. In terms of forgetting… It appears that people forget the damage and the pain as soon as their wounds heal… In essence, as lo g as their is subsidies to insure food is on the table… People forget the state of affairs… However, take the social subsidies away and there is a load uproar. The social subsidies have always been used to quiet the loudest.
Come on the Ireland… Wake up and get a clue. Make a stand… I would if I could… Don’t let any of the past be minimized!
did he not have input to cool the price of houses during the boom and failed twice and now handsomely paid again for more failed logic
If there hadn’t been cheap credit for so many years the property boom would have never got so far out of control. Failed ECB policy along with domestic incentives, loop holes,tax breaks,bad planning, and of course gombeen Fianna fail politicians did us in. Absolute insanity!!!!!
Hindsight is a wonderful thing! Every dog on the street could have told you this, when this hair brain scheme was thought up! This was set up so banks and developers wouldn’t have to accept the losses of the crash. Should have been named S C A M A
”€1 million a day ” To run this White Elephant !! What is it’s purpose only to provide Social Welfare for the wealthy ….IMO.
If you want to look at the source of the financial troubles
This is rich from the architect who worked hand and hand
Who is pulling his puppet strings This country has been run as a private fund for years
The next question , who is this private fund run for, and who put in the funds in the first place ?
how did it start and when did it start who started the fund the answers might just surprise you ?
Simple enough
NAMA= No Accountability (for) My Actions. His plan sucked Big Time.
he got handsomely paid to carry out the reports and he should have seen they were acted upon there are platforms and procedures to see that it is acted upon he got money for old rope , friends of friend come to mind more wool pull over the peoples eyes, more waste of money for reports to collect cobwebs and dust
How can a consultant like that ensure that their reports are cited upon? He wasn’t in government, and as a result can only advise.
what happens to a
patient if the consultant dies not make sure his reports are not acted upon, so the reports are useless if he does not get them followed up on
I wish Peter would do a free report on the solution to the problem which excludes reports.
Study Architecture did he?
have your say