Irish 'bad bank' members chosen

The property slump left banks will billions of euros of bad loans

Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has announced the names of the board members of the country's 'bad bank'.

The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) is being set up to absorb problem loans from the country's troubled banks.

It will be chaired by Frank Daly, the former head of the Irish Republic's tax collection service.

The chief executive will be Brendan McDonagh, who worked for the country's national debt management agency.

The other board members are:

• Eilish Finan, an independent financial consultant who formerly worked for AIG Global Investments;
• Michael Connolly, a banking consultant who spent much of his career at Bank of Ireland;
• Peter Stewart, a partner in a firm of chartered accountants;
• Brian McEnery, an insolvency expert with a firm of chartered accountants;
• Willie Soffe, a local government administrator;
• John Corrigan, chief executive of the National Treasury Management Agency, the government body under which Nama will operate as an independent commercial entity
• Stephen Seelig, a financial restructuring expert who will join Nama upon his retirement as an International Monetary Fund adviser next May.

Mr Lenihan said more than 800 people had applied to be board members.

He said the board was not dominated by people with a background in banking.

Nama will have 54bn euros to buy toxic loans made by banks with a book value of 77bn euros, mainly in the property market.

About a quarter of those loans relate to property and other assets in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

A Northern Ireland sub-committee is being formed to advise Nama on how to handle assets based north of the border.

Stormont Finance Minister Sammy Wilson is awaiting Mr Lenihan's approval of three individuals he has suggested should represent Northern Ireland on the sub-committee.

The Irish government has already pumped billions of euros into banks and nationalised Anglo Irish Bank to try to stabilise the sector.

The Irish Republic's economy has been one of the most hard-hit by the downturn, and the rescue plan is the biggest in the country's history.