THURSDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2025

In advance of its anticipated wind-down, the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) has published research on the Agency’s performance over its lifetime which it commissioned from Professor John FitzGerald. The research was commissioned to contribute to the public debate about the Agency and its performance.

Professor FitzGerald chose to analyse NAMA’s performance primarily through two key questions:

• Did NAMA pay too little or too much for the distressed assets of the Irish banking system? and

• Did NAMA manage the disposal of these assets in line with its legal remit and deliver value for the State?

The 38-page report explores in detail the wider domestic and global economic backdrop in the years leading up to the financial crash, the factors leading to the Government’s decision to establish the Agency, and Ireland’s post-crisis journey from recession to recovery.

It analyses how NAMA operated in acquiring assets from the five Participating Institutions (Anglo Irish Bank, AIB, Bank of Ireland, Irish Nationwide Building Society and EBS); measures it took to improve collection rates after loans transferred to NAMA; and the Agency’s statutory objective to maximise the value recovered for the State.

The research also examines how NAMA’s performance compares to the approaches adopted in other jurisdictions.

Conclusions

Among the report’s conclusions are:

• NAMA’s lifetime surplus of c€5.5bn is “appropriate” and demonstrated “a reasonable return”. Professor FitzGerald argues that a significantly higher or lower surplus might suggest the agency had underpaid for or overpaid for loans.
• NAMA played a “crucial” role in identifying issues with financial institutions by valuing loans accurately when acquiring them. This helped to bring clarity to the extent of the banking recapitalisation costs faced by the State and prevented delays in the economy’s recovery.
• The clarity of the statutory objective given to NAMA and the way NAMA implemented it made a major contribution in minimizing the cost of the crisis.
• Resistance by Government and NAMA to external pressure to sell assets at a faster pace was the right decision, as it generated more time for NAMA to realise the full value of assets.
• NAMA has been “broadly successful” in how it managed the process of selling off assets. Professor FitzGerald pointed out that there are cases where NAMA could have generated a higher profit from delaying the sale of certain assets, but there are also cases where NAMA got more for assets than it would get if it were selling them today.
• Even marginal shocks to the economy during NAMA’s lifetime could have wiped out its surplus.
• NAMA is viewed as “a success story” by studies comparing its performance with similar agencies in other countries.

Aidan Williams, the Chair of NAMA, said:

“NAMA was a significant and far-reaching intervention by the Government into Ireland’s financial and property markets at a time of unprecedented crisis.

As we approach the Agency’s wind-down, this is an appropriate time to reflect on its performance and on the extent to which it achieved its objectives.

This is an authoritative and important piece of research by Professor FitzGerald that will help to inform debate around NAMA’s effectiveness.”

Brendan McDonagh, the Chief Executive of NAMA, said:

“NAMA has always measured its effectiveness by reference to its statutory mandate to maximise the value of its assets.

This research by Professor FitzGerald finds that NAMA was successful in fulfilling what it was set up to do – a significant surplus of €5.5 billion to the Irish State, whilst also restoring stability to the banking sector and the wider Irish economy. NAMA was a workable and effective resolution to the problems created by the poor banking lending practices of the Celtic Tiger era.”

Notes to Editors

About this research

This research was commissioned by NAMA to provide an independent external analysis of its performance in advance of its anticipated wind-down.

About Professor John FitzGerald

John FitzGerald is an Adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin and a Research Affiliate at the Economic and Social Research Institute

He was previously a Research Professor at the ESRI and Programme Coordinator of the Macroeconomics and Energy Policy Research fields.

He is former President of the Association d’Instituts Européens de Conjoncture Économique, of the Irish Economic Association, and of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland.

He was a member of the Commission of the Central Bank of Ireland, of the National Economic and Social Council and of the board of the Northern Ireland Authority for Energy Regulation.

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