Irish Bank Standoff Tells ECB Cautionary Tale for Review

Ireland, home to one of the world’s biggest banking implosions, is now the scene of a skirmish between lenders and regulators that offers a warning to the European Central Bank as it conducts its own probe into the region’s balance sheets.

Bank of Ireland Plc, the nation’s largest lender, has disputed what it claims is the Irish central bank’s estimate that it should set aside an extra 1.1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) to cope with souring loans. The central bank hasn’t confirmed the figure and the resolution of the quarrel, which started in December, won’t be clear until Bank of Ireland publishes full-year results on March 3.