Ireland’s central bank has told the country’s commercial banks to raise capital buffers to guard against any shock, warning about rising property prices as the booming economy moves “closer to capacity limits”.
Lenders will be required to hold an extra capital buffer equivalent to 1% of their Irish risk-weighted exposures as the central bank warns that “substantial downturns” may follow phases of strong growth in the volatile Irish economy.
The big two lenders in the market are Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland, which have leading positions in many segments.
