Ireland's top two banks hope to get about 28.2 billion euros ($A46.26 billion) in return for soured property loans which will be transferred to a "bad bank" scheme, they said in statements on Monday.
Allied Irish Bank (AIB) said it hoped to get 17 billion euros ($A27.89 billion) and Bank of Ireland (BofI) said it could receive 11.2 per cent if a 30 per cent discount is applied to the loans.
Ireland's banks have been ravaged by the global financial crisis, a domestic property market meltdown and a deep recession.
The Irish state is setting up a "bad bank", the National Assets Management Agency (NAMA), to buy toxic bank property loans with a total book value of 77 billion euros ($A126.31 billion) which soured in the country's recession.
NAMA, which has been approved by both houses of parliament and signed into law by President Mary McAleese, will use taxpayers' money to buy the loans at a discount.
BofI said it would be recommending participation in NAMA to shareholders at a meeting in January.
It said the "precise quantum of the assets" to transfer to NAMA and the terms of their transfer have yet to be established and a loan-by-loan exercise will be involved.
AIB, which is planning an extraordinary general meeting next month, said guidance from Finance Minister Brian Lenihan had estimated a discount on loans of 30 per cent "although there can be no assurance that this will be the case".
The lender said there was no reason to believe that the average discount applicable to AIB's NAMA Assets "will fall significantly outside of this guidance".
NAMA will buy loans with a book value of 77 billion euros ($A126.31 billion) from Irish lenders. It will pay about 54 billion euros for the assets.
In September Lenihan said that Irish property prices had plunged by 50 per cent.
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