THE NORTHERN Ireland advisory committee of Nama is to be chaired by agency board member Peter Stewart.
Senior members of the North’s business community say Mr Stewart and the Northern Ireland committee will play a “critical” role in ensuring Northern Irish business interests and the economy are well represented.
The Business Alliance, a group which acts as an umbrella organisation for key business bodies in the North, believes the final composition of the Northern Ireland advisory committee will be made public shortly.
The North’s Minister for Finance Sammy Wilson has previously confirmed that Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has agreed to some NI appointees sitting on the committee.
The alliance, which acts on behalf of the Confederation of British Industry, the Centre for Competitiveness, the Institute of Directors (IOD) and the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce, believes Nama will pose a number of potential issues for local businesses.
Representatives from the alliance have been working closely with government in Northern Ireland and the Republic to highlight these issues.
It is understood that as a result of this Nama chairman Frank Daly and agency chief executive Brendan McDonagh will attend the North’s Chamber of Commerce annual lunch later in the year to meet with businesses.
The alliance says most of the debate about Nama has revolved around the potential impact of a “fire sale” of the £4.6 billion (€5.09 billion) in assets located in the North and which are eligible for transfer to the agency.
But chairwoman of the IOD Joanne Stuart said the alliance is concerned that certain companies will be drawn into Nama, even though they have performing loans and pose minimal or no risk.
According to the alliance many of the North’s businesses are not aware that approximately 40 per cent of loans going into Nama will be performing. The group says this could potentially damage the image of Northern Ireland companies if Nama continues to be seen in the wider arena as “a holder of solely non-performing loans”.
Ms Stuart said: “There is a major communication exercise to be undertaken to inform companies in Northern Ireland of the implications of Nama. Many companies might find they are part of Nama despite continuing to trade well and without any non-performing loans.”
