NAMA Rejects CIF Report

The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) has announced it "completely rejects the flawed and one-sided analysis of the Agency published by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF)".

NAMA's key points in response to CIF Report are:

• The Report is not objective
• CIF would prefer NAMA to help developers deal with their problem loans at the expense of the taxpayer while allowing them siphon off and profit from their performing loans
• Report is factually incorrect in respect of many of its criticisms of NAMA )NAMA has never said it is unwilling to bring in external finance...NAMA has never said it is unwilling to provide working capital etc)
• Report blithely ignores the fact that NAMA is implementing policy of Oireachtas and terms of approval by EU
• Current plans to expand role of NAMA testifies to international confidence and credibility in its operations

The CIF has engaged in regular criticism of the Agency since it was first conceived. That criticism has been grounded in a naive expectation by the CIF that NAMA would protect the developers and the broader construction sector from the impact of the excesses of the property bubble and its subsequent collapse in which some members of the CIF played a significant role.

Central to the CIF's argument over the past 18 months or so has been the notion that NAMA should take problem loans off the hands of developers and banks while leaving both these parties to benefit from their portfolio of performing loans at the expense of the taxpayer. This was never the intention of NAMA which has to deal with the borrower on a holistic basis to optimise the potential recovery.

A Spokesman for NAMA said: "The construction industry has an important role to play in our recovery but self-serving reports like this suggest that the leaders of that industry are continuing to live in denial of the crisis that NAMA is dealing with. NAMA did not cause the problems in the construction sector or the banks but we are trying to find solutions and fix them in a way which does not penalise the taxpayer. The CIF needs to realise that the world has changed and they would be better off helping their members deal with that changed world and working constructively with NAMA rather than criticising how this Agency works."

(CD/KMcA)