No disagreement with ECB, says Noonan

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has defended the decision not to publish the results of last month's balance sheet assessments, pointing out that he has "no difference of opinion" with Mario Draghi over the ECB president's comments on Irish banks.

“There are two issues in the Irish banks at present. One is the mortgages and dealing with that resolutely and the timetable, the second is the provisioning that is required now. The banks should get on and do that early in the new year,” Mr Noonan said on his way into a meeting of euro zone finance ministers yesterday.

Mr Draghi raised concerns on Monday about the health of the Irish banking sector, urging “swift and decisive” action on issues revealed by the recent balance sheet assessments before the Europe-wide stress tests next year.

Mr Noonan defended the decision not to publish the full outcome of the balance sheet assessments conducted by the Irish Central Bank as a condition of the bailout exit.

"The reason the Bank of Ireland gave far more details than the other banks was that it was going back into the market with the preference shares and that was successfully concluded, so it had obligations to interested investors to give full information, but the other banks, as they provision and as they come to give their annual statements, they'll give full information as well."

Special meeting
Mr Noonan was one of 17 finance ministers attending last night's special euro group meeting, in a bid to secure agreement on a single resolution authority for winding down troubled banks. All 28 finance ministers gather today for a meeting ahead of tomorrow's two-day summit of EU leaders. With an array of outstanding issues still to be agreed, the euro group was understood to be focusing on possible backstop mechanisms that should be used in the event that capital shortfalls are identified in stress tests.

Yesterday, European officials hinted that a political decision may be reached on the Single Resolution Mechanism without ministers agreeing on a backstop mechanism.

"We don't need to have agreement on every detail of the backstop, to have a political agreement on the SRM. The important thing is to have a mandate to start negotiations with the European Parliament, " said one EU official.

Agreement
However, Mr Noonan said it would be preferable to get agreement on the backstop as well as the single resolution mechanism.

“I think there has to be a backstop for credibility purposes. It might never be used, but it has to be there and it has to be significant. I think the intention is to agree everything before Christmas.”

Mr Noonan echoed concerns raised by figures in the European Commission as well as Mr Draghi that the draft agreement on a centralised resolution authority could be overly complex.

“One would want to be able to [resolve a bank] over a weekend, as the maximum time span, so anything that’s too cumbersome with various layers to it, I don’t think would be effective.”

The ECB president told the European Parliament on Monday that the current rules under discussion to wind down banks are “overly complex” while financing arrangements “may not be adequate.”