IT’S HARDLY surprising that Nama is continuing to attract some of the best brains in the estate-agency business given that a) the property market is dead and b) Nama salaries are astonishingly attractive.
The latest recruits to Nama include Paul McNamara, a former director and head of valuations at Lisney; Marcus Wren, formerly director and retail expert at Bannon; and Robert Fay, an associate director and office specialist at HT Meagher O’Reilly.
All three will be badly missed by their respective firms, but who can blame them for defecting, given the handsome wages the State asset-management company is paying?
Nama’s chief executive Brendan McDonagh is believed to be on a salary of around €500,000 while 16 of his team earn more than €200,000 a year.
A further 22 earn between €150,000 and €200,000, while 65 earn between €100,000 and €150,000. According to another recent report, a further 200 earn up to €100,000.
Considering that Nama has a long way to go in buying in distressed loans, we can only assume that the staff will continue to grow like topsy.
With some estate agencies just managing to keep the lights on, expect more of a brain drain towards the Nama safety net.
