UPDATE 1-Irish banks must tackle mortgage arrears: c.bank
By Padraic HalpinDUBLIN, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Ireland’s banks need to
accelerate their efforts to deal with the problem of mortgage
arrears and have sufficient capital to write off losses on
unsustainable home loans, the country’s central bank governor
said on Thursday.Around 32,000 households are in arrears for more than six
months on their mortgages after a devastating property crash and
the problem, which is growing, is preventing a recovery in the
banks, the domestic economy and the real estate market.”To date banks have restructured relatively few loans,”
Patrick Honohan told a conference on the mortgage market. “It’s
clearly time for the banks to ramp up their efforts in dealing
with truly unsustainable situations.”“Enough capital has been injected into banks to absorb what
I call unavoidable losses from unsustainable mortgages.
Inefficiency of capital cannot be a reason to delay action.”The government, which has a direct exposure to the arrears
problem after taking over large parts of the banking sector,
published recommendations for dealing with arrears on Wednesday
that could see thousands of indebted borrowers lose ownership of
their homes and rent the properties instead.The state ruled out a blanket debt or negative equity
forgiveness scheme, at an estimated cost of around 14 billion
euros, which would have heaped further losses onto the banks’
balance sheets and be far too expensive for the state.Honohan said it was crucial that banks and the state were
able to distinguish between borrowers who cannot pay and those
who will not.”Making that triage between the truly unsustainable situation
and the can but won’t pay is one of the key operational
challenges for banks and other public authorities going
forward.”
ATM group sues Visa, MasterCard over price fixing
* Suit seeks class action status for ATM operatorsOct 12 (Reuters) - A group representing operators of
automated teller machines filed a lawsuit against Visa
and MasterCard alleging that the credit and debit card
issuers violated antitrust laws by fixing the price of ATM
access fees.The suit, which seeks national class action status, was
filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District
of Columbia on behalf of the National ATM Council and several
independent ATM operators.The suit, charging restraint of trade, alleges that Visa
and MasterCard network rules prohibit ATM operators from
offering lower prices for transactions over PIN-debit networks
that are not affiliated with Visa or MasterCard.The suit alleges that the price fixing artificially raises
the price consumers pay for ATM services, limits ATM operator
revenue, and violates antitrust laws.It claims that rules by the card issuers prevent an
operator from offering consumers a discount for ATM
transactions not completed over Visa or MasterCard networks.”Visa and MasterCard are the ringleaders, organizers, and
enforcers of a conspiracy among U.S. banks to fix the price of
ATM access fees in order to keep the competition at bay,”
Jonathan Rubin, of the Rubin PLLC law firm which represents the
plaintiffs, said in a statement.The proposed class, should the case be granted class action
status, would be comprised of independent operators of some
200,000 ATMs in the United States, Rubin said.Visa declined to comment. MasterCard did not immediately
return calls seeking comment on the lawsuit.The case is The National ATM Council, Inc et al v. Visa,
Inc et al and MasterCard Inc et al, U.S. District Court,
District of Columbia, 11-cv-01803.
ATM group sues Visa, MasterCard over price fixing
* Suit seeks class action status for ATM operatorsOct 12 (Reuters) - A group representing operators of
automated teller machines filed a lawsuit against Visa
and MasterCard alleging that the credit and debit card
issuers violated antitrust laws by fixing the price of ATM
access fees.The suit, which seeks national class action status, was
filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District
of Columbia on behalf of the National ATM Council and several
independent ATM operators.The suit, charging restraint of trade, alleges that Visa
and MasterCard network rules prohibit ATM operators from
offering lower prices for transactions over PIN-debit networks
that are not affiliated with Visa or MasterCard.The suit alleges that the price fixing artificially raises
the price consumers pay for ATM services, limits ATM operator
revenue, and violates antitrust laws.It claims that rules by the card issuers prevent an
operator from offering consumers a discount for ATM
transactions not completed over Visa or MasterCard networks.”Visa and MasterCard are the ringleaders, organizers, and
enforcers of a conspiracy among U.S. banks to fix the price of
ATM access fees in order to keep the competition at bay,”
Jonathan Rubin, of the Rubin PLLC law firm which represents the
plaintiffs, said in a statement.The proposed class, should the case be granted class action
status, would be comprised of independent operators of some
200,000 ATMs in the United States, Rubin said.Visa declined to comment. MasterCard did not immediately
return calls seeking comment on the lawsuit.The case is The National ATM Council, Inc et al v. Visa,
Inc et al and MasterCard Inc et al, U.S. District Court,
District of Columbia, 11-cv-01803.
On the Move: Moelis hires DeGhetto for power sector
DeGhetto joins Moelis from Credit Suisse ,
where he was co-head of the power and renewable energy group.
Prior to Credit Suisse, DeGhetto worked at JPMorgan ,
where he was a managing director in the power and pipeline
group within the investment bank.He previously spent more than seven years as a managing
director in the global utilities group at UBS , Moelis
said.
New Issue-Sampo prices 1.0 bln euro 2016 bond
Borrower Sampo Housing Loan BankIssue Amount 1.0 billion euroMaturity Date October 19, 2016Coupon 2.75 pctReoffer price 99.834Reoffer Yield 2.786 pctSpread 66 basis pointsUnderlying govt bond Over Mid-swaps, equivalent to 139.25bpOver the 1.75 pct 2016 OBLPayment Date October 19, 2011Lead Manager(s) BNP Paribas, Danske, Royal Bank of Scotland,UBS & UnicreditRatings Aaa (Moody’s)Listing LuxFull fees UndisclosedDenoms (K) 100-1For ratings information, double click onFor all bonds data, double click onFor Top international bonds newsFor news about this issuer, double click on the issuer RIC,where assigned, and hit the newskey (F9 on Reuters terminals)Data supplied by International Insider.
