Permanent TSB may re-introduce fixed rate mortgages but at rates as high as 7%, effectively pricing itself out of the market, The Sunday Times reports. Read the full story

The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) of Ireland is trying to tackle the rise of the black economy in the building trade by calling for tax-compliant certification for all state building grants. Read the full story

Developers are still sitting pretty according to reports in a couple of the papers. “Builders get Nama pay deal” in The Sunday Times reports that the top 10 developers – who owe billions to the state and whose assets have transferred to Nama – will be allowed to pay themselves up to €200,000 salary a year and hold on to their homes while their property assets are worked out over the next five to 10 years. Read the full story

Property magnate and renowned bon viveur Johnny Ronan commands widespread coverage across news and business pages in all the broadsheets as his debts – personal and corporate – are laid bare under the Nama process. Read the full story

The country’s top ten most indebted property developers want €1.5 billion in taxpayers’ money to complete projects, The Sunday Business Post reports. Read the full story

Peter Bacon, the economic consultant who dreamed up the National Asset Management Agency and once advocated a cut in the national minimum wage, has charged the Irish Hotels Federation €60,000 for five weeks work. His report for the Federation, published last November, concluded that the country needed to close a quarter of its hotel rooms because the sector was insolvent. Read the full story

A NAMA source has told The Sunday Tribune that the asset management agency could close down hotels under its watch if they aren’t making enough money.

NAMA is taking over €800 million in loans secured against Irish hotels and the NAMA source told the Tribune that “it may be better for some hotels to shut rather than draining developers’ resources.” Read the full story

On the day that the bank loans transferred to NAMA and administrators were appointed to Quinn Insurance, the Revenue Commissioners issued the following press release:

Following a recent determination by the Appeal Commissioner, the Revenue Commissioners accept that cooking chocolate comes within the meaning of paragraph (xii) of the Second Schedule to the VAT Act, 1972 (as amended) and is therefore liable to VAT at zero per cent.

Welcome to the real world!

AIB is facing virtual nationalisation because of new rules on bank reserves proposed by The Financial Regulator, The Sunday Times reports. Such an action would mean taxpayers would be forced to invest billions more than they have already to keep the bank afloat.

Meanwhile, Nama officially becomes a reality today when the first tranche of loans are transferred from Irish Nationwide. All of the Sunday’s speculate the original haircut of 35% will now look more like a skinhead, with discounts of up to 60% being paid by the state on these loans.

The rest of the week will likely be filled with banking news as the full extent of the Nama bailout strategy becomes fully apparent. Guestimates range anywhere between €25 billion and €40 billion depending which commentator you choose to believe – whatever the final bill, taxpayers can expect to be footing it for generations to come.

The “big bang” is the theory that astronomers and physicists use to explain the formation of the universe. It is not a phrase you would ordinarily expect to find on the finance pages of the national newspapers but it has taken up residence there over the past few weeks as we await a series of announcements that will shape the banking sector, and thus the economy, of this country for the foreseeable future. There will be a statement from Nama (National Asset Management Agency) on  the amount it plans to pay for the first €17 billion of bad debts it will accept from the banks. Read the full story