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Anglo – requesting information

[posted to thestory.ie]

Readers will be aware that Anglo Irish Bank was nationalised in January 2009. This came after the bank guarantee scheme of September/October 2009. Anglo became a prescribed body under the Ethics in Public Office Act last summer, which was expanded through a statutory instrument in February 2010 to cover many subsidiaries of the bank.

However, Anglo has not become a prescribed body under the Freedom of Information Act 1997/2003. This would require the signature of Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan. Given the sheer volumes of public money already given to the bank, and the volumes of public money due to be given, it is outrageous that the public has no recourse to information as to how this money is being spent. We cannot quantify expenditure by the bank, nor has the Government made any effort to inform the public about how much public money has been given to the banks, and how it is exactly spent.

I gave a great deal of thought to this problem over the last number of months, and decided on a course of action that will be unknown to many. I have decided to publicise this process in the hope that others will follow. We have a right to know what is going on. As a result I started a process that I believe is the most significant and important request for information we have sent to date.

Continue reading “Anglo – requesting information”

Ireland's note to the Commission

[Cross posted to thestory.ie]

I was interested in some FOI work that Deputy Joan Burton had been doing lately on Anglo Irish Bank, so I contacted her and asked for any documents or refusals she had received. She was kind enough to copy everything and post them down to me. I have now scanned and OCRd the documentation.

First up is Ireland’s notification to the European Commission surrounding the injection of €1.5bn of capital into the bank. It runs to over 50 pages and contains some curious stuff. Many of the handwritten notes are I believe by Deputy Burton herself, or her staff. But there are other curious oddities, some of which are highlighted.

Firstly the document appears to have been poorly redacted. There are strikethroughs throughout the document with notes afterwards such as “[Confidential – commercially sensitive][Department to confirm]”. What appears to have happened is that a draft of the document was released, rather than a redacted version. The draft contains the internal notes around what should or should not be redacted. One gem (and this is dated January 2008) is “Anglo Irish Bank is considered a fundamentally sound institution”. With a note beside saying it might be “commercially sensitive” to say so.

Not alone that, but further down it says (with a line through it)

The assessment by Merrill Lynch supports the position that Anglo Irish Bank is fundamentally sound.[Confidential – commercially sensitive][Department to confirm]

Another gem which was marked for redaction, marking points arguing in favour of capital injection:

The assessment that there was a low likelihood that Anglo Irish Bank would be successful in raising additional equity from existing shareholders and new private investors Confidential – commercially sensitive][Department to confirm]

Also this very interesting paragraph around future planning:

As noted above, on account of Anglo Irish Bank’s specific business model, which is specialised in commercial property lending and property development finance, not all of the elements of the agreed credit package will directly impact on Anglo Irish Bank, at least initially. However, given the envisaged future changes in the Bank’s business model and strategic direction under its restructuring plan, it is anticipated that in time further elements of the credit package will become applicable to Anglo Irish Bank accordingly [Confidential —commercially sensitive for Anglo Irish Bank] [Department to confirm]

Finally, there is this further reference to Anglo’s future:

On account of Anglo Irish Bank’s specific business model, which is specialised in commercial property lending and property development finance, not all of the elements of the agreed credit package will directly impact on Anglo Irish Bank, at least initially. However, given the requirement to prepare a restructuring plan within a six month period as part of the recapitalisation initiative, future changes in the business model and strategic direction of Anglo Irish Bank are likely to bring about a closer alignment between the lending activities of the Bank and the credit needs of the real economy. As a result it is anticipated that in-time further elements of the credit package will become applicable to Anglo Irish Bank accordingly. [Confidential – business secret] [Department to confirm].

Of course questions need to be asked. This document is dated January 8. The Government already had the PwC reports into Anglo and must have had some idea of the scale of the problems at the bank. Yet Merrill was still claiming Anglo was fundamentally sound just a week before the bank was nationalised. Not alone that, all references to the bank being fundamentally sound were marked for redaction.

There is one final section that sums up the entire sorry mess:

Anglo Irish Bank is a focused business bank with a private banking arm. The Bank provides business banking, treasury and wealth/management services. It is not a universal bank and its stated strategy is niche rather than broad market. Each of its customers deals directly with a dedicated relationship manager and a product specialist.

Yet in the same breath we are told the Anglo is of systemic importance. So which is it?

Ireland’s note to the Commission [PDF]

Sean FitzPatrick's loans

[cross posted to thestory.ie]

The Independent leads tomorrow with a story about €100m in outstanding loans on which former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Sean FitzPatrick is apparently not paying interest. That’s an interest bill of €400,000 a month, but no repayments are being made.

This actually partly relates to my story the other day about Anglo-Irish Nominees Ltd.

We know Mr FitzPatrick had personal loans from Anglo. But those loans did not include lending like the Atrium deal set out here. Money was lent to a company in which he appears to have had a beneficial interest. I wonder how much of Anglo’s lending related to Mr FitzPatrick’s personal interest in investments? This is on top of the personal loans we are already aware of.

The shareholders in Tysan, John Kerry Keane, Paul Coulson, Denis O’Brien, Lindat Limited, Lar Bradshaw, Sean Fitzpatrick, Gary McGann, Paddy Wright, Sean Melly, Pat Gunne, Longstone Estates Limited and Lochlann Quinn, don’t seem to have invested anything in the company apart from €3k share capital.

The liabilities of the company are pretty much all bank loans. The charge indicates there is no personal recourse to the borrowers. Anglo funded €70m of the purchase in 2005 and the 2006 accounts for Balcuik show an “ultimate shareholders loan” of €30m (probably lent by Anglo). The property was then revalued to €137m, handy that, and Anglo increased the borrowings and repaid the €30m to the shareholders. So there is no equity. Anglo get arrangement fees of around €2m and as much interest as possible and probably all of the risk.

And how many more of Anglo’s staff have loans, directly or indirectly, with Anglo?

And how many of these loans are going to be written off at taxpayer expense?

And of course the other question is this:

When Brian Lenihan met Sean FitzPatrick on September 18, 2008, the same day the first PwC report was requested, was Mr Lenihan, or the Regulator or Central Bank, already aware or made aware, of the extent of Mr FitzPatrick’s loans, direct or indirect?

It seems to me that when the results of that first PwC report on Anglo were given to the Government on September 27, just two days before the night of the bank guarantee, the Government, or its regulatory agencies, or Mr Lenihan himself, must have been aware of the extent of Mr FitzPatrick’s loans. The loans were too big for them not to be aware.

And were that the case, Anglo, including all of its deposits and liabilities, was guaranteed despite that knowledge.

Why?

Some questions for Mr Lenihan

[cross posted to thestory.ie]

The Daily Mail and Sunday Times have commented already on Lenihan’s diary as published here last week. The Daily Mail concentrated on the meeting with Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone on November 12, 2008. The Sunday Times was more concerned with all the constituency work Mr Lenihan was doing when he perhaps should have been doing more important work.

For my own part I’ve been parsing the document to see what dates coincide. I’ve also drafted and sent two follow up FOIs on the basis of information gleaned from Mr Lenihan’s diary. There will likely be follow ups to those too.

However, the diary itself raises a number of questions that I will list here.

1) Why was a meeting with Sean FitzPatrick on September 18 not listed in the diary?

2) Were instructions given by the Minister to PwC, following the meeting with Mr FitzPatrick, to begin its inquiry into Anglo?

2) What was the purpose of the meeting with Pat McLoughlin of IPSO on September 25? Was this related to lobbying in relation to cheque usage and ATM charges?

3) On the night of the bank guarantee, September 25, who was present at the Department of the Taoiseach with Mr Lenihan and Mr Cowen? No names are listed in the diary, but names were reported in the media.

4) What was the purpose of the meeting with Independent News & Media chairman Brian Hillery on October 31, 2008?

5) What was the purpose of the meeting with Ivan Yates on November 5, 2008?

6) What was the purpose of the meeting with Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone on November 12, 2008, and with James McGuill of the Law Society the same day?

7) What was the purpose of the meeting with Michael Ryan and Paul Ryan of Merrill Lynch on November 13, 2008?

8 ) What was the purpose of the meeting with Andre Orcell of Merrill Lynch and then Lochlainn Quinn on November 24, 2008?

9) What was the purpose of the meeting with Sean FitzPatrick and Donal Drumm of Anglo, on December 16, and why does the diary entry merely list the meeting as “Anglo Irish” instead of their names?

10) Why is there no mention of any meetings with Patrick Neary, the then Financial Regulator, right up until his resignation on the night of Friday, January 9?

11) What was the purpose of the meeting with property developer Stephen Vernon of Green Property on January 30, and with Axel Wieandt of Hypo Real Estate on the same day?

12) What was the purpose of the meeting with Rick Lazio of JP Morgan Chase (who ran against Hilary Clinton in New York in 2000) on April 24?

Anglo Irish Bank (Part 1)

The first in a multipart series looking at the companies and subsidiaries of Anglo Irish Bank, now a State-owned entity. Happily the series almost coincides with the first anniversary of the bank guarantee announcement. Onto the details:

First up is Anglo-Irish Bank (Nominees) Ltd.

Second a definition: A nominee company is a company formed by a bank or other organisation for the purpose of holding shares on behalf of the beneficial owner. Nominee company employees carry out all the paperwork and other tasks associated with the documentation of shareholding and arrange for necessary transfers when a share is purchased or sold.

The company has an address at Stephen Court 18/21, St. Stephens Green Dublin 2, like many Anglo Irish companies.

The company was incorporated on the 23rd of October 1973 and is a private limited company with a latest account date of September 30, 2007. The company is a mutual and pension fund/Nominee/Trust/Trustee company registered in Ireland.

Readers will be glad to know that as of its last filing date, the company has a 100% solvency ratio, but no employees. It’s industry/activity is listed as “legal activities” – it is a nominee company after all.

The company has two directors, Patrick Whelan and William McAteer, with Natasha Mercer as secretary. This trio are on most of the company boards related to Anglo.

But here is where it seems to get interesting: shareholders.

Now obviously Anglo Irish Bank Limited has as a shareholder: “Minister of Finance, Ireland”.

But there are other shareholders, too. You see Anglo-Irish Bank (Nominees) Ltd is jointly owned by Anglo Irish Bank Limited (the Minister now) and Sean P FitzPatrick, in a 50/50 split. Seanie has no beneficial interest.

And in November 2008, prior to nationalisation but post bank guarantee, who pops up as a shareholder? NTR Public Limited Company. Remember them? Why oh why? I can only tell that NTR appears to have held a >50.00, or less than a 50% stake in Anglo-Irish Bank (Nominees) Ltd, prior to our good minister ever having a stake in the company. Nominee companies are fun. NTR likely used this nominee company along with Mr Fitzpatrick who was then still working for Anglo, for some transaction or other.

But wait. It doesn’t stop there. Does our humble company have any subsidiaries? Why yes, we do.

Tysan Invesments Ltd, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the nominee company.

And who are the people behind Tysan Investments? Let’s take a look.

Mr Denis O’Brien Director (since 30/05/2005)
Mr Gerard Davis Director (since 18/04/2006)
Mr Gary McGann Director (since 30/05/2005)
Mr John Kerry Keane Director (since 30/05/2005)
Mr Peter Butler Director (since 18/04/2006)
Mr Paul Coulson Director (since 30/05/2005)
Mr Patrick Gunne Director (since 30/05/2005)
Mr Peter Robert Butler Director (since 18/04/2006)
Mr Sean Melly Director (since 30/05/2005)
Mr Peter Butler Company Secretary (since 18/04/2006)
Mr Peter Robert Butler Company Secretary (since 18/04/2006)

Gosh, a veritable who’s who! Mr O’Brien (yes, that one) is listed as a director of a company called Tysan Investments.

Garry McGann is the same name as that chief executive of Smurfit. And is this the same John Kerry Keane?

And is that Peter Butler
, the same Anglo employee who owes Anglo Irish Bank €861,000?

Is that Paul Coulson of Ardagh Glass fame?

Is that Pat Gunne, now of Green Property (famously owned by Stephen Vernon?)

Sean Melly, who wants to buy Eircom?

Now if Tysan is wholly owned by Anglo Nominees, then we have a stake in Tysan, right? So what subsidiaries does Tysan have? I’m glad you asked. Tysan has a subsidiary called Balcuik Limited, which itself has two other subsidiaries, Atrium Property Developments Limited (formerly Alert) and Martlet Holdings, all registered in Ireland.

Tysan was incorporated on February 28, 2005. It has an address listed at First Floor 11/12 Warrington Place Dublin 2.

Balcuik subsidiary Martlet has the following directors:

Mr James McKenna Director (since 7/03/1994)
Mr Mark Munro Director (since 26/02/2003)
Mr Paul Culhane Director (since 13/11/2002)
Mr Stephen Vernon Director (since 7/03/1994)
Mr Mark Munro Company Secretary (since 21/06/2005)

Ah, now we have the Green Property connection – Stephen Vernon.

And let’s not forget Balcuik Limited, a shareholder in Martlet. Ah! Balcuik has the same directors as Tysan. But Balcuik had, a shareholder in the form of – Green Property.

And lastly to that subsidiary of Balcuik – Atrium.

Atrium has the same address as Balcuik, and has total assets of almost €10,000,000 (but with current liabilities of €4,457,315). Its last account date was May 30, 2008. And Atrium’s shareholders? The same as Tysan. And who acted as banker for Atrium? Ah yes, Anglo Irish Bank.

Praise be though, for anyone confused by this point. We have an informative document from the Competition Authority.

Proposed acquisition by John Kerry Keane, Paul Coulson, Denis O’Brien, Lindat Limited, Lar Bradshaw, Sean Fitzpatrick, Gary McGann, Paddy Wright, Sean Melly, Pat Gunne, Longstone Estates, and Lochlann Quinn, through Tysan Investments Limited of Balcuik Limited

2. The acquirers are:
• John Kerry Keane: A private individual who is active in the media sector.
• Paul Coulson: Chairman of Ardagh plc and a director of other companies.
• Denis O’Brien: A private individual who is active in the media sector.
• Lindat Limited: The owner of this company is the Chairman of Harcourt Holdings which is active in the property sector in Ireland, Britain and overseas.
• Lar Bradshaw: Chairman of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority and amongst other things, serves as a non-executive director of Anglo Irish Bank Corporation plc.
• Sean Fitzpatrick: A non-executive chairman of Anglo Irish Bank Corporation plc and serves as a non-executive director of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, Greencore plc, and Aer Lingus.
• Gary McGann: Chief Executive Officer of the Jefferson Smurfit Group. He is Chairman of the Dublin Airport Authority and is President of IBEC. He serves as director for a number of companies including Anglo Irish Bank Corporation plc.
• Paddy Wright: Chairman of the RTE Authority and a non- executive director of Anglo Irish Bank Corporation plc.
• Sean Melly: An entrepreneur who is active in the media sector.
• Pat Gunne: Chief Executive of Gunne Group which is active in the
property sector in Ireland.
• Longstone Estates Limited: A property holding company owned by a family Trust.
• Lochlann Quinn: Deputy Chairman of Glen Dimplex which is active in the manufacture of electric heating and domestic appliances. Additionally, he is a Director of The Merrion Hotel.

And the deal:

Tysan does not generate any turnover in the State and is an acquisition vehicle specifically created for the purposes of acquiring Balcuik. Thus, the Authority regards the named individuals and companies rather than Tysan as the undertakings involved.1
3. Balcuik, the target, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Green Property. Balcuik’s main business activities concern the ownership of the landlord interest in Blocks A and B of the Atrium Building located in the Sandyford Industrial Estate, and the leasing of Block B to Microsoft Corporation, and carrying out ancillary landlord activities. Alert Developments Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Balcuik, owns the entire legal interest and [ ] of the beneficial interest in Block A. Balcuik’s turnover of [less than €5m] solely comprises rental income received in connection with its landlord interest in Blocks A and B of the Atrium Building.

The CA found there were no competition concerns.

I have to say I am fascinated. I had never heard of all these guys partnering together to buy some buildings in Sandyford. The Tribune though, did.

Balcuik is owned by another company called Tysan Investments, which is in turn owned by a nominee company from Anglo. However, FitzPatrick and Bradshaw are understood to remain involved in the building.

Tysan made a loss of €2.8m for the year ended 30 May 2007, up from €2.7m the previous year, and the total shareholders’ deficit stood at €5.5m. It had an interest rate swap agreement denominated in euro to convert debt of €76.5m from floating rate to fixed rate. That facility expires on 31 May 2010.

Well there you go. I do wonder now though if Anglo has any charges on those properties, and if, at the end of the day, we own them (with Seanie of course). And all of those Green Property connections would lead me back to that conversation between Brian Lenihan and Stephen Vernon that was listed in Mr Lenihan’s diary for January 30, 2009, at 6.30 in the evening. What did they talk about?

I guess I am just as confused as everyone else… and Tysan is only one of the subsidiaries.

Update: Readers will be glad to know that there are new directors of Anglo-Irish Bank (Nominees) Ltd: Donal O’Connor and Declan Quilligan. Natasha Mercer remains secretary. The company has €3 of share capital (well it is a nominee company).

I’ve uploaded the most recent financial statement of the company.

Interestingly it says the following in a note at the end: William McAteer held 3.4m shares in Anglo at September 30, 2008, 502k shares as options and conditional awards of 80k shares. Pat Whelan had 447k shares, 603k share options and 68k condition share awards. Natasha Mercer had 17k shares, share options of 80k and 6,800 conditional share awards. These have all since been nationalised.

I have also uploaded the company’s most recent B1 Return.

Update 2: And the very helpful Grumpy has further clarified that background. I have corrected as appropriate.

Seanies holding in the company is in a nominee capacity. He has no beneficial interest. The reason for the holding is that the company predated the legislation allowing single member companies which was only introduced in the 90s. You will note the accounts state that the company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Anglo.

As a nominee company, it holds the shares in Tysan Investments but it is not a wholly owned subsidiary as it is acting as a nominee.

Re Balcuik the accounts are linked below. Although the shares in the parent company are held by Anglo Nominees, the accounts disclose the beneficial interests of the directors but this only accounts for 40% of the ownership.

Gunne, Melly, O’Brien, McGann, Keane & Coulson each have 200 shares or 6.66% each. That leaves Lindat Limited (this is a Pat Doherty of Harcourt Developments company),Lar Bradshaw, Sean Fitzpatrick, Paddy Wright, Longstone Estates Limited and Lochlann Quinn divvying up the rest.

Anglo does have a charge over the €106m borrowings that Tysan has from them secured on its assets. It also has a seperate charge on the Balcuik property.

The shareholders in Tysan don’t seem to have invested anything in the company apart from €3k share capital. The liabilities of the company are pretty much all bank loans. The charge, below, indicates there is no personal recourse to the borrowers. So, what happened? Anglo funded €70m of the purchase in 2005 and the 2006 accounts for Balcuik show a “ultimate shareholders loan” of €30m (probably lent by Anglo). The property was then revalued to €137m, handy that, and Anglo increased the borrowings and repaid the €30m to the shareholders. So there is no equity there. Anglo get arrangement fees of around €2m and as much interest as possible and probably all of the risk.

Company documents:

Tysan Accounts
Tysan B1
Balcuik charge
Balcuik accounts
Lindat B1
Lindat accounts

What did we buy?

For two weeks now I’ve been trawling the companies wholly owned, or party owned, by Anglo Irish Bank. It’s tough going. I plan to tabulate all the information so people can see just what was nationalised, and just what we now own. I’ve already found some curious connections, curious companies, and some newsworthy items.

Shall I dump it all in one go, or drip feed it? 🙂

The Anglo 10 named

Via the Sunday Times business section:

1. Gerry Gannon, owner of the k-club. (Profile)
2. Joe O’Reilly, developer.
3. Seamus Ross, developer. (Profile)
4. Jerry Conlan, healthcare. (Profile)
5. John McCabe, builder. (Website)
6. Patrick Kearney, developer. (Not sure which P Kearney this is)
7. Paddy McKillen, investor. (SBP profile)
8. Brian O’Farrell, developer and auctioneer. (Website)
9. Gerry Maguire, developer. (Can’t find much on this)
10. Sean Reilly, builder. (Website)

Another interesting angle today too (seems like a newsdump). Brian Cowen/FF allegedly received a total of €65,000 in donations from member(s) of this group and others, a few weeks before the 10 met to arrange the Anglo share support operation. Cowen is said to have received it in €5,000 tranches for Fianna Fail, the Mail on Sunday reported.

Edit – Correction – blame the head cold

Gerry Gannon's assets

One of the Anglo 10 is signing assets over to his wife, according to the Irish Mail on Sunday. I did a backgrounder on Mr Gannon here.

LEADING developer Gerry Gannon is transferring properties worth tens
of millions of euro, including an entire lake and foreshore, into his wife’s name.

The surprise move – initiated with 10 applications to the Property Registration Authority last Wednesday – comes as an increasing number of developers succumb to their massive debts and banks begin to foreclose on loans and seize their assets.

The motivation behind the sudden transfer is unknown – Mr Gannon and his lawyers refused to comment on the matter this weekend.

Mr Gannon is the co-owner of the K Club and reportedly one of the so-called Golden Circle, a group of investors who bought 10pc of Anglo Irish Bank in a secret deal now being probed by the Garda fraud squad.

The 10 borrowed EUR 451m from Anglo to buy the bank’s own now-worthless shares. The bank, now State-owned, has written off EUR 300m of the debt.

This week, Mr Gannon’s solicitors applied to have 10 properties transferred into his wife, Margaret’s, ownership. Nine appear to be unencumbered by mortgages.

One leading commercial lawyer said it could be an attempt to protect assets from any future legal actions.

The properties include an entire lake, Lough Glinn, with an extensive foreshore site on which he had once planned to build a luxury hotel. It was to be opened by former US president Bill Clinton.

There is also a house in a marina development on the shores of Lough Ree; two land banks, one behind Dublin Airport and one astride Clontarf Golf course; and a EUR 3m exclusive K Club home in Co. Kildare at which Mr and Mrs Gannon lavishly entertained guests such as Mr Clinton during the 2006 Ryder Cup.

‘It looks like he’s trying to dispossess himself of these assets,’ said the lawyer. ‘So if the banks were to seek to enforce a personal guarantee, those assets are no longer in his ownership.

‘As his wife probably did not give personal guarantees for large loans or businesses, the banks cannot go after her. Because all but one of these assets are mortgage-free, these would be the easiest for the banks to go after first.

‘The banks could, in fact, go after these properties. But obviously, if Mr Gannon can show he wasn’t trying to avoid any obligation under his personal guarantee, the transfer would be valid,’ the lawyer
added.

Paddy McKillen

The Sindo has named a fifth member of the Anglo 10, along with the four already in the public domain.

Mr McKillen is the man behind the successful Jervis Shopping Centre in Dublin and is a member of the consortium that recently mothballed the proposed U2 tower in Dublin docklands.

So now we have:

Paddy McKillen
Gerry Gannon
Jerry Conlan
Joe O’Reilly
Seamus Ross

Anglo question

Maybe someone out there can lend a hand. I was re-reading the Moriarty Report and came across this:

The genesis of Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust Limited, and how it became a bank in its own right, has already been referred to. In 1984 it was sold by Guinness & Mahon (Ireland) Limited to Guinness Mahon & Co. Limited in London, its parent company. The following year it was sold on to a consortium, which included Mr. Traynor, Mr. Furze and Mr. Collins. In turn they sold a 75% interest to a London bank called Henry Ansbacher & Company, a member of the Ansbacher Group, and the name of the bank was changed to Ansbacher Limited. Its title was since changed again to Ansbacher Cayman Limited, and the remaining 25% interest was also sold to the Ansbacher Group, which itself was later sold to the First National Bank of South Africa.

So in 1985 Traynor, Furze and Collins sold 75% of Guinness Mahon & Co to Henry Ansbacher & Co. The name of the the company changed to Ansbacher Limited, and subsequently the title changed to Ansbacher Cayman Limited. The remaining 25% of the bank was then also sold to the Ansbacher Group, which Henry Ansbacher & Company was part of.

Ansbacher Group, which now owned Ansbacher Limited/Ansbacher Cayman, was then sold to First National Bank of South Africa.

In 1998 the financial services interests of Rand Merchant Bank Holdings and Anglo-American Corporation were merged to form FirstRand Limited, which is now what First National Bank is known as.

A few years ago FirstRand then sold Ansbacher to a Bahrain-based bank.

Now the Anglo website says:

This acquisition was completed in March 1996. Ansbacher (not connected with Henry Ansbacher, London) was established in Ireland in 1950 and provided a full range of banking and investment services. At the time of its acquisition Ansbacher had total assets of EUR 241 million, a deposit portfolio of EUR 222 million and a loan book of EUR 98 million.

I find that odd. There certainly was an Ansbacher and Co (85 Merrion Square; 52 Lower Lesson St) in Ireland in the 1950s, and it was acquired in 1996 by Anglo Irish Bank (later approved in 2000 by Charlie McCreevy). But does that mean that by the mid 1980s there were, for some time at least, two banks operating in Ireland, one called Ansbacher Limited, and the other called Ansbacher Bankers Limited?

The address of Ansbacher Bankers is now listed as the same address as Anglo Irish Bank, according to the CRO.


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