# Could NAMA end up being used to rescue foreign banks?



## Afuera (26 Aug 2009)

Just noticed that many of the German Landesbanken have subsidiaries set up in Ireland. A lot of news has been coming out about these recently due to their growing loan loss provisions.

What is to stop these foreign owned banks from passing their bad loans onto the Irish government via NAMA?

If the government refused to take on the bad loans of the local subsidiaries what sanctions could the EU impose? Would it go against current competition laws?

Could the Irish tax payer end up having to bail out these foreign banks whether it likes it or not due to the NAMA proposal?


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## jhegarty (26 Aug 2009)

Do these subsidiaries have loans to Irish property developers ?


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## Afuera (26 Aug 2009)

It's hard to know where their loans originate to be honest.

Is NAMA able to distinguish on that basis though? Can it choose to only rescue loans that were made on Irish assets? It really sounds like it could be opening up a legal can of worms.

One of the things that stood out to me about these entities was that one of them only entered the Irish market last May (about a month after some details of NAMA became public). Why would a foreign bank enter the Irish market when it looks like it is all falling apart?


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## Afuera (27 Aug 2009)

Some interesting quotes by Rabobank in the Irish Times today that touch on some of the items I raised yesterday.

[broken link removed]



> The Dutch bank said that foreign banks in Ireland had “to take care of themselves” as Government support measures were not available to non-Irish banks. The bank named Nama as one support.
> “It is not really possible for non-Irish banks to compete on that market any more,” Rabobank’s chief financial officer Bert Bruggink told reporters yesterday.


 


> Asked if Rabobank would complain to the EC about the disadvantages facing it in Ireland over State supports, the bank said: “You gave us an idea.”


 
Is this a negotiating tactic by ACC? Could the Irish taxpayer be left holding the can on the bad loans made by foreign banks elsewhere in Europe?

Would be pretty sickening if this happened, so I'm hoping someone can tell me that it is not possible.


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