http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0518/ilp-business.html - Updated: 19:16, Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Alan Cook, Irish Life and Permanent's new chairman, said the group's financial state has gone through a massive transformation since last autumn.
He said the requirement for funding, going up from €243m to an 'astonishing' €4 billion, means that the group's challenges are now at a much higher level.
He said: 'We do not have a choice but to take whatever steps are necessary to raise that €4 billion, the balance will be provided by the Irish State.
Mr Cook told shareholders he expects the group will have to rely on the government for capital support of up to €2.5 billion.
ILP plans to sell its life and pensions business.
Mr Cook assured shareholders that he was been selected by the board, and then interviewed by both the Central Bank and the Minister for Finance before he was named chairman.
He said the reality is that the bank stress test criteria have been argued through.
He said: 'I've reviewed the debate and discussion. The task ahead is exceptionally challenging. 'It's a significant task that we now go through the process of raising the €4 billion in the most logical way possible.'
Mr Cook said he did not want to give shareholders the impression that the group would walk away from raising the additional €4 billion in capital.
A small group of Irish Life and Permanent shareholders was unsuccessful in having a motion passed to adjourn the group's annual general meeting.
The group had questioned the ILP board's commitment to raising €4 billion under the capital requirements set out by the Central Bank in March; it has also wanted the group's registrars to be supervised when counting votes at meetings and the electronic voting devices replaced by a show of hands.
Earlier, a shareholder proposed that the company's annual general meeting be adjourned until all of the group's board members confirm that they stand behind the group's intention to raise €4 billion in new capital.
The shareholder wanted the group's board to try to avoid raising the €4 billion that the Central Bank has said ILP needs in new capital.
Another shareholder said the reason most people in the room are extremely annoyed with the situation is that last September a stress test was done and six months later another stress test said the capital requirement was 16 times bigger.
He said: 'Either the stress test of last September was an utter joke, or the most recent one was. It's as simple as that.'
Arrears on Irish mortgage book still rising
Irish Life & Permanent said that arrears in its Irish residential and commercial mortgage books are continuing to rise.
In an interim management statement ahead of its AGM in Dublin today, it said that the Irish residential mortgage arrears over 90 days increased by 17% to 13,500 by the end of April. Early arrears - under 90 days - have risen from 4,800 cases in December to just over 5,000 by the end of April.
ILP said that lending demand for its home mortgages and consumer finance continues to be extremely weak and new advances during the first three months of the year are 40% lower than the same time last year.
It said that based on trends to date, provisions for bad debts are expected to be broadly in line with the 2010. It said the total impairments over the next three years will be €1.2 billion, of which about €620m will occur this year.
The company said that the life and investment management business are performing broadly in line with expectations. But it added that the impact of budgetary changes on customers' incomes has led to the 'weaker persistency experience' in the retail life business.
It said the acquisition of the Irish Nationwide Building Society deposit balances in February has been positive for the bank's banking business but funding conditions continue to be 'challenging'.
Irish Life and Permanent says that while it believes the worst of the recession is over in Ireland, it expects the recovery in 2011 to be modest with continued weakness in domestic demand and consumer sentiment. This, though, will be partially offset by a strong export sector performance.
Shares in Irish Life and Permanent closed up 5.9% to 13 cent in Dublin this afternoon.