Subordinated debt: Furious investors challenge AIB bail-in

	Michael Noonan’s SLO has antagonised bondholders

The way in which Irish finance minister Michael Noonan has chosen to bail-in subordinated bondholders in Allied Irish Banks (AIB) has caused outrage among investors. Critics claim that the government is arbitrarily rewriting the rules by opting to issue a Subordinated Liabilities Order (SLO) under the Credit Institutions (Stabilization) Act of 2010, which drastically alters the terms of the debt and gives preference shareholders priority in receiving dividends while interest payments are suspended to higher-ranked bondholders in the capital structure.