Brian O'Doherty's Blog  

I was strongly in favour of the NAMA scheme, when it was first revealed: It seemed like it could really help resolve the banks’ liquidity problem, while costing the taxpayer nothing. Remember, the banks had extended billions in commercial and development property loans, against security which was fast-falling in value in the crashing property market. […]

Apologies to my readers, especially avid fans, for the time out in the last few months. There was a lot of disruption in my routine, with move of office, move of house and move of city (to Greencastle, County Donegal, lovely spot). I found it difficult to keep up to speed with the details of […]

Í read on that good blog, www.Irish Economy.ie, that the State proposes to provide promissory notes as its capital commitment to the funding of Anglo Irish Bank. If that’s true then it means that Anglo must be planning to raise equity elsewhere in order to meet the new (still just proposed) Basel III standards ( […]

The consequences of the NAMA and allied announcements yesterday included a slight fall in the share price of AIB today, amid very heavy trading, and a sharp rise in the price of BOI. The market seems to think that the State will end up owning more of AIB- probably a majority most people say -than […]

On Feb. 28 I wrote a piece entitled “A Gamble on AIB today?” (see below), in which I recommended a flutter on AIB at that time. I’m happy to say !..yes, happy, because at that time the share was c. 1.00 euro, and it since–almost immediately- rose to c. 1.65 euro last week…an enormous profit […]

So, we have arrived at the moment of truth..NAMA is to reveal the price it will pay and the banking system will end up in government hands, according to the professional professors, the insider winkers, the usually well informad media commentators and the bewildered of RTE. Well, I think they’re wrong. I’m sticking my neck […]

I reproduce my contribution to the discussion board, Ask About Money, where Seantheman had “accused” me (politely) of probably being a disenchanted BOI shareholder. ” To Seantheman No, I never bought BOI, but it may now be time to do so. For those with loose cash–that excludes me !- it could be the opportunity of […]

There is a curious statement in the EU Commissions press release today (IP/10/198, 26th February) : “…the inclusion of an adequate remuneration for the state in the rate used to discount the assets’ long term economic cash flows…” The implication here is that the Commission feels that the State is proposing to discount the future […]

Vincent Browne’s late night chat show on TV3 is the best on television. Always amusing, often laughable, Vincent excels at pushing misconceptions on current topics down the throats of his invited guests and demonstrating to us how often he can leave them speechless and unable to correct him.(Of course, some of his guests seem far […]

Last night I heard on “The Week in Politics”, on RTE tv, the affable and articulate new Governor of our Central Bank, Dr. Patrick Honohan, predict that the Irish banking sector will come into foreign ownership, when the government eventually sells its shares.. He has been predicting a rosy future for the banks, on the […]