Irish eyes are smiling

Reuters delivered the managed demise of stricken Anglo-Irish bank to our readers well ahead of the competition — a saga we have dominated for weeks and threatens to hurl Ireland into a fresh debt crisis with liabilities of 25 billion euros or more, which may end up on the state’s ledger. Bloomberg and Dow Jones lagged by nearly a minute with Dublin’s decision to split the bank up in a way which means it will eventually be run down to extinction. The news helped dent European banking shares and Irish government bond spreads spiked to record highs. Over the preceding week, Reuters had clearly flagged to clients that this sort of result was likely, not least because of the government’s wafer-thin majority in parliament, looming elections and a public sick of footing the bill for reckless bankers.