Irish bank debt up for renewal in September

Aegon's Phil Milburn expects Irish banks to be able to refinance debt coming up for renewal next month, despite some predicting another testing time for the region.

The manager of the Aegon High Yield Bond fund says the banks have a number of options, as a two-year blanket guarantee for €25bn Irish bank debt expires in September, even though Ireland was downgraded by credit rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) last week. European banks, particularly those that are in weaker eurozone economies such as Ireland or Spain, have struggled to refinance and in May and June were virtually shut out of the market, according to today's FT. In the article Robert Crossley, interest rate strategist at Citigroup, says the premium paid by Ireland could have a kn...