Anglo Irish Bank considered merger with Irish Life & Permanent, court hears
Anglo Irish Bank considered taking over or merging with Irish Life & Permanent at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, the trial of four bankers has heard.
Anglo's former Head of Finance, Willie McAteer (65) and the former CEO of Irish Life and Permanent (ILP), Denis Casey (aged 56), and two others are accused of conspiring to mislead investors by using interbank loans to manipulate Anglo Irish Bank's balance sheets.
The interbank loans allegedly involved money being transferred by Anglo to ILP and then being put back on deposit with Anglo via ILP's life assurance division.
The transfer would allegedly appear as corporate deposits and not an interbank loan so the bank's corporate funding figure would appear bigger for the bank's year-end figures on 30 September, 2008.
ILP's former director of finance, Peter Fitzpatrick (aged 63) of Convent Lane, Portmarnock, Dublin, John Bowe (aged 52) from Glasnevin, Dublin, who had been Anglo's head of capital markets, Mr McAteer of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co Tipperary and Mr Casey from Raheny, Dublin have all pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to conspiring together and with others to mislead investors through financial transactions between March 1 and September 30, 2008.
At the beginning of week nine in the trial Matt Moran, Anglo's chief financial officer at the time, told Paul O'Higgins SC, prosecuting, that he had been offered immunity from prosecution by the DPP for anything that might arise in relation to Anglo Irish Bank.
He said that throughout 2008 he was involved in an ongoing project entitled “Universe” which was the potential merger of Anglo and Permanent TSB and ILP.
He testified that the potential acquisition of ILP would result in a more “universal bank” as Anglo was a more narrowly focused business bank than a “universal type bank”.
Anglo did not lend money to people in the form of residential mortgages while ILP and Permanent TSB did.
Mr Moran said that the merger would have created the third largest banking force in the State but it never came to fruition.
The trial continues before Judge Martin Nolan and a jury.
