PTSB makes a killing on the back of the Irish people – Matt Carthy MEP
Sinn Féin MEP Matt Carthy has said the massive jump in profits made by Permanent TSB has come “at the expense of the Irish people and especially the thousands of customers the bank threw under the bus”. Carthy was commenting as PTSB posted a 45 per cent increase on profits in 2018 from the previous year, with profit before tax and exceptional items at €94 million.
The Sinn Féin MEP said: “PTSB has achieved this massive increase in profits by throwing its customers under the bus. To add insult to injury, the bank indicated to the Finance Committee in 2017 that it does not expect to pay a cent in corporation tax for 21 years as a result of the government’s policy of allowing banks to carry forward 100 per cent of their losses incurred during the crisis.
“The shadowy PTSB deal struck last December to offload thousands of its mortgages, including split mortgages, is an absolute scandal. It followed previous sell-offs of mortgages to predatory vulture funds. The PTSB split mortgages were classified as non-performing due to incompetence by the bank in designing the contracts, not through any fault of the borrowers.
“What we have here is a majority publicly-owned bank, that was rescued in a bailout, selling out thousands of its customers to debt vultures – including more than 4,000 customers who engaged with the bank in restructuring agreements.
“We can already see how opaque the securitisation market is through this deal. PTSB refused to inform Irish elected representatives of the owners of the purchasing fund, though Pimco is assumed to be the buyer.
“Company records show that the securitisation vehicle, Glenbeigh Securities 2018-1 DAC, is administered by Wilmington Trust SP Services, which specialises in providing secretive Delaware-based trust services. The director of this shell company, Alan Geraghty, also finds the time to hold the directorship of 269 other companies.
“It is shockingly unfair that PTSB can make a killing on the banks of its customers in this way, and that despite the fact that the public owns a 75 per cent stake in the bank, it won’t pay a cent in tax on these profits.
“My colleague Pearse Doherty has campaigned for Irish banks to be forced to pay tax on their profits.
“Sinn Féin is demanding that the losses that can be carried forward be capped at 25 per cent, and for this to be limited to a period of 10 years.” ENDS
