DUBLIN (Reuters) ? The International Monetary Fund and European Union have been examining proposals for making senior bondholders share the cost of rescuing Ireland's banks, The Irish Times reported on Friday, citing an unnamed source.
Investor nervousness increased after the report, with prices of Irish and European bank bonds falling.
Under one scheme being considered, bank debt would be converted into equity shares. In another, investors would be given the choice of injecting fresh capital or face a cut in their investment, The Irish Times reported.
Whether senior bondholders in Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish Banks and nationalized Anglo Irish Bank take a hit is a hot topic after several European politicians said they should share the cost of the bailout.
But such a move could further undermine confidence in banks in Portugal and Spain, by showing all investors are vulnerable, and could make it tougher for Irish banks to fill their future funding gap.
"There is not yet a law and there will need to be. When investors bought the debt they were doing so under a certain set of assumptions and it would be catastrophic for the market if these assumptions were torn up," a banker involved in bond syndication told IFR Markets.
"This...is massively reducing the risk appetite for bank senior debt," he said.
Analysts said some form of tender for the bonds was likely to be in the offing. Stephen Lyons, of Davy in Dublin said banks could offer to exchange cash or other debt for lower quality bonds, at a premium to market prices but at a substantial discount to nominal value.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeatedly said bondholders should share the pain when a country hits trouble, but only for bonds issued from as early as 2011.
The first step would be to seek to "persuade" senior bondholders to participate in the bailout, the source told The Irish Times. "If that does not succeed, the question is how can you force them in a legally-sound way."
An 85 billion euro rescue package is expected to be unveiled, possibly over the weekend, to cover Ireland's funding costs and the cost of "overcapitalizing" the banks.
Ireland's government has consistently said it will honor its obligations to senior bank bondholders, despite forcing a "haircut" on holders of subordinated debt in nationalized lenders Anglo Irish and Irish Nationwide.
But the main opposition party Fine Gael, which will likely lead a new government next year, has said all bondholders should share the burden of bailing out the banks. Bank of Ireland had about 31 billion euros of senior debt and asset-backed securities and AIB had 20 billion euros of senior debt at the end of June, according to their mid-year results. Anglo has about 6.5 billion euros of senior debt after maturities in September.
(Reporting by Carmel Crimmins and Luke Millar; Editing by Greg Mahlich and Alexander Smith)
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