Government officials and staff from the Financial Regulator are set to use radical measures to "stabilise'' Anglo Irish Bank this week as the nationalised lender posts loan losses in excess of €3bn for just six months.

The figure will be one of the worst results ever disclosed by an Irish bank or company.

The government will be forced to announce a further re-capitalisation plan later this week of up to €2.5bn, although the Department of Finance was awaiting EU clearance on Friday for this level of state aide.

Finance minister Brian Lenihan has already committed to put €1.5bn into the bank.

The country's largest banks are spending the weekend examining their major property loans so they can be moved into Nama as soon as the government passes legislation.

Concern is growing, however, about the scale of exposures at Anglo Irish Bank, which no longer has a chief executive.

Radical and unusual measures are being considered to prevent Anglo Irish Bank drifting towards insolvency, senior sources told the Sunday Tribune this weekend.

Meanwhile, in a piece of good news for the government, the powerful ratings agency Standard & Poor's has endorsed plans to set up Nama.