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A number of farm loans could potentially be sold to vulture funds, an Oireachtas Committee on Finance heard on Thursday 22 March.
The head of AIB’s financial solution group, Jim O’ Keefe told the Committee that loans using farms as collateral were at particular risk.
“We do have some farming loans or some farming connections which have a much bigger overhang of investment debt than actually the farming connection itself and they are cross secured against the farm and vice versa in relation to it,” O’ Keefe said.
Will be bought up by international vulture funds, placing families in a precarious position
“Those loans if we don’t have them restructured could form a part of a potential sale as we go forward.”
In two separate sessions, the Committee heard from AIB and Permanent TSB on the proposed sale of non-performing loans to private investment funds.
“The fear is that non-performing loans, involving a mixture of residential and buy-to-let mortgages, will be bought up by international vulture funds, placing families in a precarious position and at the mercy of essentially unknown corporate entities,” Committee chair, John McGuinness said.
Farm families have come under pressure recently, with continued reports of farm land bought by vulture funds and causing financial hardship on farmers.
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