Madam, – Given the events of recent months surely it is time to reword those rushed health warnings gasped at the end of commercials for Anglo Irish Bank financial products.
I would envisage something along the lines of: “The ‘Plumbing the Depths’ tracker bond is a product of Anglo Irish Bank. The value of your investment can sometimes go down as well as up.
Anglo Irish Bank is regulated by the Financial Regulator – however, no reassurance or comfort should be taken from this. Anglo Irish Bank is a subsidiary of the Irish Government.” – Yours, etc,
Madam, – In nationalising Anglo Irish Bank, the Taoiseach could not (or would not) confirm unequivocally that the Government was aware of all the liabilities that were being taken on by the new stakeholders -the taxpayers — and potentially saddling us all with another major liability.
To allay concerns that there is no “old boys’ network” at play, the Government should ensure that all matters that led up to the nationalisation of the bank are placed in the public domain and are not considered to be “commercially sensitive”.
Otherwise Cowen and Lenihan will be as guilty of the same acts as Seán FitzPatrick in concealing matters from the stakeholders. – Yours, etc,