Are capital requirements for Irish banks too high?

In the aftermath of the financial crash of 2008, the European debt crisis, and the Irish banking crisis, in 2014 regulations were passed aimed at promoting higher banking standards to prevent similar crises in the future.

The first of these rules states that all Irish banks have initial starting capital of at least €5 million; they must always be in excess of this amount. Further, lenders have claimed that they must hold up to three times the capital for mortgages relative to average requirements throughout the rest of the EU.

These regulations largely seem to have accomplished the job they were instated, with the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) stating that there has been an increase in high quality loans and a corresponding decrease in problem loans.

However, there has been criticism as of late for the continued implementation of these rules, and for the harsh conditions they impose on lenders. It is possible that borrowers are also adversely affected by extension. For instance, it is claimed by major Irish banks that the high capital requirements are …

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The myth of nationalisation as the solution for banks.

‘Value for the taxpayer’ is the most common line I hear in defence of nationalisation, and inside I laugh every time I hear this line, because it implies that up to this point we gave been actually getting value for our taxes. If our tax take was managed so carefully in the past (as the argument for ‘value’ seems to suggest because they certainly are not saying ‘we were ripped off left and right in the past’) we would have a surplus with which to counter the current cycle, much like Chile or Norway are doing.

It struck me that value for the taxpayer might be in keeping the banks non nationalised and here are a few points that I have not seen answered adequately in the public domain.

1. If an Irish pension fund takes a serious fall in value due to the bank shares it holds being nationalised (on top of what are already serious losses, wiping the share holders may push a fund over the edge) …

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A simple way to understand Liberty & the Free Market

This is a simple video, and yet a compelling one about some of the fundamental rights of people and of our right to self determination. How does this tie into mortgages or economics? Simply put it shows that the government of a country don’t have the right to force the state to underwrite banks, in fact, it only rewards bad behavior and the end result is that we all pay for a business issue which we did not create, if a bank lends you money it does so by choice, when in reverse (such as our state bailout plan) we were never given any right or choice as to how it would work, or if it was even a good idea. The guarantee was given first and conditions attached last, ill thought out and moral hazard is merely the beginning of it all.

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A simple way to understand Liberty & the Free Market

This is a simple video, and yet a compelling one about some of the fundamental rights of people and of our right to self determination. How does this tie into mortgages or economics? Simply put it shows that the government of a country don’t have the right to force the state to underwrite banks, in fact, it only rewards bad behavior and the end result is that we all pay for a business issue which we did not create, if a bank lends you money it does so by choice, when in reverse (such as our state bailout plan) we were never given any right or choice as to how it would work, or if it was even a good idea. The guarantee was given first and conditions attached last, ill thought out and moral hazard is merely the beginning of it all.

Read More →