The incoming chairman of Anglo Irish Bank Alan Dukes said tonight that while provision had been made for loans taken by former directors of the bank, it still intended to seek repayment of the loans.
The State-owned entity, which today reported the biggest ever loss in Irish corporate history, said there were outstanding loans to directors of more than €150 million at the end of December 2009, with provisions for impairment of more than €108 million.
Speaking on RTÉ Six One News, Mr Dukes insisted that efforts were being made to ensure loans owed were repaid.
"The bank will take every action it can to secure repayment of all the loans that are outstanding," he said.
The bank's report shows the largest amount borrowed was by former Anglo chairman Sean FitzPatrick, who had a total of €85 million. Ex-finance director William McAteer had loans totalling €8.5 million. Declan Quilligan, who had €3.8 million in loans from Anglo Irish, was paid more than €2 million when he left the bank earlier this month.
Former director Pat Whelan had €5.8 million in loans from the bank, according to the results. Non-executive directors Lar Bradshaw and Gary McGann had loans of €27 million and €10 million respectively.
Mr Dukes once again defended the decision of the Government to continue to back Anglo rather than wind it up. He said that even after taking into account the extra cost to the taxpayer needed to meet future losses on loans going into the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), it was still cheaper to keep it open for business.
"On all of the calculations and investigations that we can do we find that keeping the bank open according to the restructuring plans we've prepared costs less to the taxpayer than winding it up even over a ten-year period.
"The extra costs that have emerged and the extra provision the Minister had to make yesterday evening would apply in either case," he added.
Mr Dukes did admit though that the extra costs brought "the two sides of the argument to a higher plateau of costs."
Earlier today, Mr Dukes said winding down the Anglo over a 10-year period would cost the taxpayer in excess of €20 billion on top of the cost of making the move to Nama and bringing capital ratios into line with new financial regulator rules.
"We found that keeping the bank open and splitting it into a bank and an asset management company a little down the road is a far better solution than just closing it.
"For a smaller sum of money we can have a bank that continues after that [post-Nama and capital ratio costs] with an asset management company by its side, but a bank that can function as a useful part of the banking system of the country.
"If you get a functioning bank for a lesser amount of money than closing it down then it seems to me it is a perfectly good deal for the taxpayer," he added.