Allowing Anglo-Irish Bank to collapse would have had enormous consequences, newly appointed chairman Alan Dukes told the June AEJ lunch (June 24).
In a largely off-the-record address to members, he said the aim of management was now to spread the huge losses over as many years as possible.
Speaking at a summer outdoor lunch, he said such a move would have had major consequence for the State’s borrowing facilities and for other banks. He said most of the banks’ problems arose from the huge drop in commercial property prices which he predicted would amount to 60 per cent from their peak in 2007 by the end of 2010.