The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) has now repaid half of the €30.2 billion in senior debt issued to acquire loans, it said on Wednesday.

The agency confirmed it had repaid an additional €600 million of its senior debt today, bringing the total redeemed so far this year to €7.6 billion.

Nama said it has now redeemed a total of €15.1 billion in debt since it was established in 2008 to address the serious problems which arose in the banking sector as the result of excessive property lending.

This represents 50 per cent of the total senior debt issued by the agency to acquire loans from participating institutions.

The agency had originally expected to meet this target in 2016. It said it now plans to have redeemed a total of 80 per cent of its senior debt by 2016.

“This is a notable milestone for Nama and one that has been achieved far earlier than anyone would have anticipated when the agency began its work. It shows the significant progress Nama has made in maximising the amount recovered for the taxpayer and eliminating a €30.2billion contingent liability of the State,” said chief executive Brendan McDonagh.

Nama said on Wednesday it is redeeming the last tranche of €134 million of senior bonds that were issued to the Central Bank to acquire a floating charge over IBRC assets. This charge was acquired by the agency in February 2013 as part of the arrangements governing the liquidation of the former Anglo Irish Bank.

“This means that all of the €12.9bn in senior bonds that we issued in February 2013 as part of the IBRC liquidation process has now been fully redeemed,” said Mr McDonagh.