A lending manager at the former Anglo Irish Bank has been telling a court about her concerns about the debts built up by the Quinn Group in 2007.
Elma Kinane was on Team 91, which was responsible for dealing with Sean Quinn and with issuing loans to the Maple Ten.
She says Team 91 were told in November 2007 that the Quinn Group needed €150 million to cover margin calls they had to pay on Contracts For Difference (CFDs) on Anglo shares.
An additional €500 million to cover new CFD losses was requested the following month.
She said that the then Anglo CEO David Drumm 'was keen that we accommodate the request' and asked that they find a way to get it done.
Ms. Kinane said that in 2008, her team started to have concerns about the bank's exposure to Sean Quinn because the Quinn Group could not repay even a small amount of money and had failed to honour some commitments requested by the bank.
She is giving evidence in the trial of former Anglo executives Sean FitzPatrick, Pat Whelan and Willie McAteer who deny unlawfully providing loans to the Quinn family and the Maple Ten to buy Anglo shares.
Anxious to help Anglo
Earlier, one of the so-called Maple Ten investors told the court he agreed to buy Anglo Irish Bank shares because he wanted to do business with the bank in the future.
Property developer John McCabe has told the trial of three former Anglo executives that his relationship with the bank dated back to the 1980s and that his main contact there was Pat Whelan, who was in charge of lending for Ireland.
He has said Mr. Whelan contacted him by telephone on July 9th 2008 about a proposition.
He said they met at Anglo's offices on St. Stephen's Green the following day. Anglo CEO David Drumm was also in attendance.
The developer has told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that he was asked to buy a 1% stake in the bank with a €60 million loan from Anglo.
He said he was told a major investor held 25% of the bank's shares and was only willing to redeem 15%.
He told the prosecution they eventually revealed the identity of the investor, which the jury has previously heard was Ireland's richest man Sean Quinn.
Mr. McCabe has said he was told the transaction was 'totally legal' and that the financial regulator was 'anxious' to get it done.
Under the terms of the deal he was to be personally liable for 25% of the loan. He said the meeting lasted about an hour and he signed a loan facility letter which Pat Whelan presented to him.
Good relationship
Asked by Paul O'Higgins for the prosecution what his reasons were for agreeing to buy Anglo shares Mr. McCabe said "I was happy with what I heard from those two gentlemen I'd dealt with over 15 years".
He told the jury he had nearly no experience with stocks and shares nor was it something he wished to get into but he was 'anxious to help' as the bank had been very good to him in his business.
"I wanted to co-operate with the bank, who I intended to continue on doing business with" he said.
He said he was subsequently contacted by Mr. Whelan to say the share price had fallen in value and that a new loan facility letter would be sent out.
Barrister Brendan Grehan SC, for Pat Whelan, asked Mr. McCabe to describe his client. The developer replied "one hundred per cent as far as I was concerned".
