Complicated
The deposits auction is complicated because there are three crucial elements to every bid -- the percentage of the deposits they are willing to pay as a "purchase" fee; the assets they are willing to accept as backing for the deposits; and the volume of deposits they are willing to take on.
The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) ideally wants to sell off all the deposits in one chunk, but is also entertaining other offers.
At least one bidder -- IL&P -- is understood to want only a small portion of the deposits rather than the entire book.
The NTMA is also hoping that banks taking on the deposits will accept a corresponding volume of Nama bonds to back up the deposit book (since the deposits will be held as bank liabilities and must be backed up by assets).
Some bidders may demand that every €1 of deposits is backed by more than €1 of Nama bonds, since the Nama bonds are guaranteed by a weak sovereign (Ireland), while others may not be keen on Nama bonds at all.