Irish prepare to learn full cost of banking crisis

If the full cost were disclosed by the stress test(s), the consequences to "the game" supporting the banking system would be headline news. This is nothing more than a controlled release of selective information.

Ireland prepared to learn the full cost of its banking crisis on Thursday when the results of stress tests were expected to reveal that four banks need billions more in aid, likely giving the government extra ammunition in its campaign to force some of the losses on international investors.

As the results loomed, market tensions were at a high, forcing the suspension of trading in the shares of Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks. Irish Life & Permanent and the Educational Building Society were also being tested.

A senior Irish banker, Mike Aynsley, said he expected the tests to conclude that the four lenders would need another euro18 billion to euro25 billion ($25 billion to $35 billion) to strengthen them against any future shocks.

Source: finance.yahoo.com