Greens get changes to NAMA bill

[David Cochrane]

The Green Party have this evening announced they have ensured vital changes to the Nama bill to be published tomorrow.

Following a Government meeting today, Green Party Minister Eamon Ryan announced changes to the NAMA Bill due to be published tomorrow.

The changes include:

Risk-sharing to protect the taxpayer

A risk-sharing mechanism has been agreed by Government, which will deliver an equal sharing of the risk between NAMA and the banks.

Guarantee of on-lending

A condition of participating in NAMA will be a guarantee that a fixed percentage of the loans issued will be lent on to small and medium enterprises.

Banking reform

All directors of institutions participating in NAMA will, if appointed prior to 2008, be required to step down. They will be replaced over the course of two years to allow for an orderly changeover of management.

The Minister for Finance will, upon publication of the Bill, write to the leaders of the opposition parties seeking their recommendations for nominations to the NAMA board.

It will be a criminal offence to seek to lobby NAMA. All employees will report attempts to influence the operation of NAMA to the Garda Síochána,

Legislation to put the revised Combined Code of Corporate Governance on a statutory basis will be forthcoming. NAMA will be subject to this Code.

Windfall Tax to discourage speculation

A windfall tax of 80% on profits gained from increases in land value due to re-zoning decisions will be introduced to ensure that land speculation is not rewarded in the future.

Valuations criteria

The Minister for Finance will publish regulations setting out the criteria for analysis of long-term value. These include:

- The Minister for Environment’s analysis of the extent of zoning and planning permissions granted

- The Minister for Transport’s analysis of future land use based on transport planning

- The Minister for Energy’s analysis of trends in energy prices as a result of the decline in fossil fuels over the medium to long term

Limit on borrowing

The amount NAMA can borrow without the approval of the Minister for Finance has will be reduced from a €10 billion limit to one of €5 billion.

Reporting requirements – quarterly

NAMA will be obliged to report its activities to the Minister for Finance every three months, instead of the annual report included in the draft legislation.

Included in this report will be crucial information such as the number of loans outstanding, amount of non-performing loans, foreclosures, incidences where liquidators and receivers have been appointed, the sums recovered from property sales and a full balance sheet of NAMA’s assets and liabilities.

The Minister for the Environment will bring forward his Planning Bill for enactment, which will include measures to ensure that the bad planning practices of the past are not repeated.

Announcing the changes, Minister Ryan said: “Nobody would choose to be in a position in Government where the state must act to clean up and repair the banks. However, this is the position we have found ourselves in. Having examined the options available over the past 6 months, I believe that NAMA is the best option to mend a broken banking system.

“Legislation of such monumental importance to the Irish state requires close scrutiny. The Green Party has been questioning, checking and changing this legislation over the past months. We will continue this level of engagement and improvement within Government.

“The measures we announce today will increase the protection afforded to the taxpayer. They guard against politicisation of NAMA and its operations. All of these measures are designed to make sure that the banking and planning practices that brought us to this crisis cannot be repeated.”

[jmcc]

Interesting. In just one move the Greens have done far more than the PDs ever did in the twenty plus years of their existence.

Regards...jmcc

[BodyofEvidence]

The Green Party have this evening announced they have ensured vital changes to the Nama bill to be published tomorrow.

I would seriously severely doubt that there will be proper risk sharing. The subordinated bond wheeze will be what the gp swallows as risk sharing when its not. And the originator of the idea cant speak now.....the rest is fluff of the highest order which matters not a whit if they overpay by tens of billions.

[Cael]

No doubt the only ones who will be arrested for lobbying NAMA will be ordinary people looking for land for their communities, instead of keeping it for the oligarchs.

These "changes" are entirely cosmetic and without value. Risk shaing is a laugh. The banks are bankrupt, what risk can they share?

[BodyofEvidence]

No doubt the only ones who will be arrested for lobbying NAMA will be ordinary people looking for land for their communities, instead of keeping it for the oligarchs.

These "changes" are entirely cosmetic and without value. Risk shaing is a laugh. The banks are bankrupt, what risk can they share?

damnit your doing it again, stop making me agree with you!

[Nerdfest]

NAMA will be obliged to report its activities to the Minister for Finance every three months, instead of the annual report included in the draft legislation.

Will the minister be required to deliver that report to the house or will he be able to sit on it for "commercial reasons". It doesn't matter how ofter a report is delivered if the report sits in a desk somewhere and is not published.

[Herodotus]

No doubt the only ones who will be arrested for lobbying NAMA will be ordinary people looking for land for their communities, instead of keeping it for the oligarchs.

These "changes" are entirely cosmetic and without value. Risk shaing is a laugh. The banks are bankrupt, what risk can they share?

Fully agree, the greens have proven to be a part of the neo-liberal, political elites. These are just some crumbs to try save their political skins.

[Digout]

This is nonsense, €5 billion is far to much to allow the minister to have control over. Its to little. We want a general election. The cabbage munchers just dont get it.

How the hell are they going to guarantee that lending happens? Show me how? They cant. more spin, more spoof.

[Mitsui]

....the rest is fluff of the highest order which matters not a whit if they overpay by tens of billions.

Indeed. And all will no doubt be subject to the classic FF tactic of introducing the legislation without putting in place the means to enforce it. Then there's the matter of oversight..and so on and so on.

Until such time as I see transparent and patently effective mechanisms in place to ensure that any of this happens, I'll file it with "regulated by the Financial Regualtor" in the "unintended health warnings" file.

[draiocht23]

I need to hear more detail but some of the proposals are good - increased transparency, an 80% windfall tax, the sacking of those who got us into this mess (why are they still there?) and a guaranteed amount of lending for SMEs.

As to risk sharing - it depends what way its framed. Not sure how feasibe it is though as it will just require the State to further capitalise (aka: nationalise) our insolvent banks.