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McGrath confident Irish banking sector can withstand global turbulence

Minister for Finance Michael McGrath has expressed confidence in the Irish banking sector to withstand the turbulence being experienced in the global market.

Mr McGrath updated his Cabinet colleagues on the banking situation this morning.

Speaking afterwards, he said that the global financial system was “highly integrated” and therefore there may well be “some impacts”, but overall, he was confident that Irish banks were “well equipped to deal with that turbulence”.

He said that Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) had around 100 Irish customers with deposits and 14 customers who had loan facilities with the bank, principally through the UK arm.

Mr McGrath praised the “swift action” of US and UK authorities in response to the collapse of SVB and also First Republic Bank.

Acknowledging pressures faced by Credit Suisse, he said that the acquisition by UBS had helped to restore “calm to the markets”.

The minister insisted that the Irish and European banking landscape was in a “very different place” compared to the situation faced during the financial crisis in 2007 and 2008.

The acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS helped restore ‘calm to the markets’, said the minister

“The regulatory environment is a world apart from what it was, the capital position of the banks, the liquidity resources available to them and indeed the quality of the loans that they are carrying on their books are dramatically better than they would have been in the lead-up to the last crisis”, he said.

Article Source: McGrath confident Irish banking sector can withstand global turbulence – Tommy Meskill – RTE

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