Lenihan: 'probable estimate' on discounts due 16 September

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan will anxiously await the verdict of the international rating agencies on his plan to set up the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) after Germany's version of the bad bank scheme was slammed in a major report.

Analysts' unenthusiastic reception to Berlin's plans could force the government here to reveal in much more detail next month the range of discounts Nama plans to pay the banks for their impaired €90bn in loans on behalf of the taxpayer. Lenihan last week said that though he plans to indicate on "a probable estimate" on 16 September, full information on the discounts may not be known until June.

As the German parliament last month approved a bill to set up an asset management agency to oversee the creation of bad banks, fears were raised that few banks would join the rescue scheme. Commentators said that federal elections next month had dissuaded Berlin from taking potentially unpopular decisions involving the banks. But a report by Moody's questioned whether Berlin's bad bank solution will help the German banking crisis at all because the German taxpayers will take on too few risks of the losses from the banks.