Irish Election Provides Relief for Bankers, Landlords
Irish Election Provides Relief for Bankers, Landlords
(Bloomberg) --
Irish banks and real estate companies are poised for a boost from the upcoming general election campaign, securities firm Davy said, as potentially damaging proposals fall by the wayside.
Opposition parties put forward a plan to limit banks’ ability to sell bad loans unless borrowers agree. The government had opposed the so-called “No Consent, No Sale” bill, as well as a separate proposal to freeze residential rents. Both proposals will be halted with the election, which Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar is expected to call shortly.
The no consent, no sale bill has “unintended consequences for banks’ funding and liquidity by impacting their securitization programs,” Davy analysts Stephen Lyons and Diarmaid Sheridan said in a research note Monday.
Shares in Irish Residential Properties REIT PLC, the nation’s biggest private landlord, fell the most in two years last month amid concerns about the rent freeze plan.
The government holds stakes in AIB Group Plc, Bank of Ireland Group Plc and Permanent TSB Group Holdings PLC, meaning the future of the banking sector will feature in the election campaign, Lyons and Sheridan said.
Nevertheless, “we do not anticipate any significant fundamental change,” they added.
To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Flanagan in Dublin at pflanagan23@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ambereen Choudhury at achoudhury@bloomberg.net, Dara Doyle
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