Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

Fri 09 Sep 2007Crisis affects Irish banks, agency saysIrish banks have "extremely low or in some cases no direct exposure" to the crisis in the US sub-prime mortgage market, according to a senior banking analyst at ratings agency Moody's.However, the increase in bank funding costs caused by the crisis - in addition to the reduced number of mortgages now being sold in the Irish market - is likely to mean that Irish banks will not continue to make as much in profits. "The issue for the Irish banks in the markets is profit, not liquidity," said Ross Abercromby, assistant vice-president of Moody's Investors Service.