Irish Bank shares fall amid nationalisation fears

Shares in AIB and Bank of Ireland have fallen by 19% and 14% respectively already this morning ahead of fears that the Irish Government will be forced to recapitalise both banks following the announcement of new capital rules and the announcement of the discount at which the state owned bad bank (NAMA) will buy distressed development loans from the banks.

Reports across several media outlets have speculated that the extent of discounts and of recapitalisation could far exceed initial estimates, but Misnister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, has refused to confirm any speculation ahead of official announcements in the first half of this week.

The extent of the recapitalisation is likely to significantly dilute existing shareholders’ stakes in the banks and a sell-off this morning has resulted.

AIB shares fall below €1

On November 20th 2008 I wrote a post for this site about AIB shares dipping below €2.

At that point noone could even imagine what has happened since. As I write AIB shares are trading at 80 cent.

In a bloodbath morning on the ISEQ, Irish bank shares have fallen by almost 50% as fear grips investors following the nationalisation announcement of peer bank Anglo Irish late last thursday night.

If this fear is irrational then this is a definite BUY opportunity on AIB, BOI and ILP but if not then who knows what awaits us.

AIB shares dip below €2

The share price of Allied Irish Bank (AIB), Ireland‘s largest Bank dipped below €2 in early trading this morning with a slight rally later but a sharp drop again after lunch.
As I write, it has dropped again to just above the €2 mark:

AIB Price Nov 20 08

This follows hot on the heels of Bank of Ireland  (BOI) falling below the landmark €1 mark on Monday of this week after their announcement that they were completely cancelling their dividend payment policy. This was followed by Anglo Irish bank falling below €1 yesterday.

AIB shares have fallen over 90% in value since the peak in early 2007. If they are to fall below the €1 it would mark almost complete wipeout for the Irish banking sector in just a few months.

Irish Bank shares soar on takeover rumours

September 19 2008

Rumours this morning that Bank of Ireland is to be taken over by Spanish Bank Santander have sent all Irish bank shares rocketing on the Dublin Stock exchange this morning.

At 9:17 am, the Irish banks were up by the following percentages:

Irish Retailers to stop offering Laser cashback?

AIB, Ireland‘s largest bank, have issued notice to retailers that they are to impose an additional 20 cent charge for every “Cashback” transaction using a Laser card in store from October 1st.

The move has angered retailers as they already pay 20cent every time a Laser card is used in store.

According to

AIB performs well in H1 08 despite concerns

Ireland‘s largest bank, AIB PLC has reported pre-tax profits of €1.28bn (US$2bn) for the first half of this year.

The figure represents just a 3% fall on the bank’s profits in the same period of last year. In the same timeframe the AIB share price has fallen by 47.5%, with the market showing