Is there an alternative to Nama.
Unfortunately there is no alternative to Nama.
Once our Government decided to guarantee the obligations of our banks there was no way back.
In hindsigh we might have sent in adimistrators into Anglo and played hard ball with bond holders, but that did not happen.
The risks were percieved as being too high and nobody will ever know what might have happened
It is a litlle surprising to see some commentators argue that we can walk away now; this is certainly not an option.
In some ways the banking crisisis is detracting from the even greater problem of our budget defecit.The outcome of the Nama project is in many ways dependent on our capacity to sort out the defecit which is running at around 20 billion.
We need busines to flourish and real jobs to be created.To do this we need to reward enterprise and to reward the individuals who are going to deliver jobs.Give them an incentive.
The bank collapse is shocking.
Ireland is in an extremely difficult place at the moment . What went on at some the Banks in terms of lending is nothing short of astonishing.
How, with all their checks and balances could they have broken the fundamental rule of investment and placed all their eggs in one basket. This is the most fundamental rule of any business and if you break it you pay.
Banks like individuals are slow to learn lessons.They are slow to face up to the reality of bad debts and they will be very slow to change the way in which they operate .They are driven by profit and as a country we face the dilemma in that we want them to perform but the only way they can achieve this is at our expense.
We hope that Banks do not sell their foreign assets because this will place even greater pressure on home profits.
We hope they learn to make money from supporting business as opposed to a reliance on property.
We hope they employ competent managers who can steer them in the right direction.
We hope they move to reduce the cost of doing business.
We look forward to more competition in the Irish market from lenders who are not burdened with bad debts.
We need the banks to lend and not be relying on personal guarantees.They need to work with buisness owners as partners not as school teachers
As a lending intermediary we hope they can deliver innovative products which we can provide to our customers and offer independent advice on the merits of such products.