The Financial Regulator is pushing its European counterparts to record and analyse client names for all off-exchange derivatives trading, such as credit default swaps and contracts for difference, across the EU.

The move will prevent over-the-counter investors, who collectively make hundreds of billions in trades every year, from operating anonymously ... more

AIB and Bank of Ireland, the two remaining banks listed on the Irish stock market, need the support of investors more than ever as they both embark on programmes to rebuild their balance sheets after a period of major losses. But their efforts to raise vital capital in the coming ... more

Postbank, which announced last month it was closing with the loss of 130 jobs, is considering an approach for its banking licence and deposit book from a British investment consortium looking to open an SME lender in Ireland, according to a source involved in the talks.

Chief executive Margaret Sweeney ... more

After a so-called "consultation" process that was anything but consultative, the introduction of a grocery code of practice (COP) is now seen as inevitable in the Irish retail trade.

This farcical level of engagement between officialdom and industry suggests that a statutory, legislation-backed code is a fait accompli; however, there ... more

Small businesses can finally expect some relief in the coming weeks from the credit famine that has starved them of capital since the financial crisis began.

A new credit review scheme, led by former National Irish Bank director John Trethowan, is close to operational and the Department of Enterprise Trade ... more

This week's interim results from food group Aryzta will be of much interest to the Irish fund management community given that the banks remain in a state of flux ahead of their inevitable fundraisings. In addition, the food and drink sector is now significantly more important in the market ... more

Nama will give major Irish developers a maximum of 45 days to submit exhaustive business plans detailing how they plan to service their debts. It is understood the bad loans agency will take up to three months to scrutinise details of each plan before deciding whether to approve it or ... more

The Porterhouse microbrewery chain is going Stateside. Owners Oliver Hughes and Liam LaHart hope to open their first American pub by Christmas having signed up for a premises on Wall Street in New York and are also to commence distribution of their beers into the US market this month. The ... more

BOOKMAKER Paddy Power says it's seen fewer large bets ahead of the Cheltenham festival this week.

"We've only had two €10,000 bets and a handful of €5,000 bets so far, which shows the high rollers are suffering but we're still expecting our regular battle with ... more

AIB has so far spent €28m in preparation for transferring its toxic loan book to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).

The bank disclosed the figure in its annual report last week.

The bulk of the money was paid to legal advisers, consultants and property valuers working on the loan ... more

Hopes for the adoption of a state-sponsored small business loan guarantee scheme are waning as ongoing attention to Nama and the banks has pushed the plan down the cabinet's agenda, business and banking sources said.

Tánaiste Mary Coughlan raised expectations for some kind of government financial assistance in ... more

Anglo Irish Bank had to pay nearly €2.8m to the Financial Regulator last year to cover consultancy fees for special investigations into the bank and for due diligence costs under the government guarantee scheme, the Central Bank has confirmed.

Anglo was stung for costs more than 25 times greater ... more

CRH, the international building materials group, got a boost for its acquisition plans last week when ratings agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) raised the company's outlook to stable.

The positive change, which S&P said reflected CRH's strong market share, diversified portfolio and solid cash flow ... more

Dublin City Council believes the Digital Hub in Dublin will expand to include the site of the former Chamber Weaver flats which were demolished 18 months ago.

"It would be in an area where an extension of the Digital Hub activities might be expected in time," a council official told ... more

I'm no fan of bank management, but when AIB flagged recently that it was increasing borrowing rates to customers, the barrage of criticism missed the point and was unjustified.

The simple fact is that borrowing rates in Ireland increased substantially, both for the government and banks, at the time ... more

GLANBIA managing director John Moloney offered a brief glimpse last week of the future of the company if a deal to sell its Irish dairy and agribusiness division to the Glanbia Co-operative Society is sealed.

The terms of sale have yet to be finalised but Moloney said the proceeds would ... more

DDDA-Anglo

Current DDDA chairwoman Niamh Brennan has said that because of Anglo's influence, the DDDA "became very focused on development and used planning to facilitate and encourage development". The "association between Anglo and the DDDA has not served the authority well".
Gerry McCaughey -DDDA

Businessman McCaughey had barely started ... more

George Soros, the investor who broke the Bank of England, is helping drive up gold prices by doubling his bet in a market even he considers a "bubble" as Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital and HSBC predict more gains before it bursts.

Soros Fund Management LLC, which manages about $25bn, increased ... more

Most of the financial problems that are occurring in the western world at the moment can be put down to one thing: way, way too much leverage. We are not dealing with the problem because all of the leverage is still there. We are merely moving it around a little ... more

Feedback from insolvency and restructuring experts suggests that examinership is becoming an option that's causing more problems than solving them. The 100-day rule is proving difficult at present because the negative reaction that surrounds an application for examinership is hitting turnover and making the sale of the business as ... more

DR JOHN Climax, the co-founder of Irish drug testing company Icon, has netted €20m from selling part of his stake in the firm.

Climax, who stepped down as chairman of the company at the end of last year, sold 1.12 million shares in Dublin-based Icon last week at prices ... more

CLOSE to 70 bankers have been affected by the government's cap on salaries and bonuses at the seven institutions that signed up to the state's deposit guarantee scheme.

The report of the Covered Institution Remuneration Oversight Committee (CIROC) recommended that banks propped up by the guarantee should not ... more

Anglo Irish Bank has called in so-called "grey panthers" to advise it on debt-related borrower problems at the nationalised institution.

Grey panthers are typically retired bankers who work in the bank several days a week because they have significant experience with debt, particularly from the 1980s, something a whole generation ... more

Limerick developer Ger O'Rourke's Chieftain Construction lost more than €3.9m for the financial year ended 30 September 2008 after taking an impairment charge of just under €4m following a "detailed review of the carrying value of its assets".

The newly filed accounts show that the company also ... more

Developer Frank Gormley has been given the go-ahead to redevelop the Spawell Golf and Leisure Centre in Templeogue, Dublin 6W.

Gormley's Wellington General Partner (WGP) has been given the thumbs up to plans to demolish the existing structures on the site and develop a new leisure centre, a 149-bedroom ... more

JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup helped cause the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings by demanding more collateral and changing guarantee agreements, according to a report on the biggest bankruptcy in US history. "The demands for collateral by Lehman's lenders had direct impact on Lehman's liquidity," said Anton Valukas, the ... more

Food production company Country Crest has called for the re-establishment of the Irish sugar industry which it believes could create 2,000 jobs while a new state of the art sugar plant could employ 250 people.

Ireland currently employs 290,000 tonnes of sugar a year, it says, two-thirds of ... more

A DUBLIN law firm set up by a former Quinlan Private executive says it is offering cut-price legal advice.

Access Legal said it is able to offer lower fees because its solicitors work remotely, removing the need for costly head offices, junior staff and partnership structures, its founder John Gleeson ... more

The University of Limerick (UL) was selected by Enterprise Ireland and the IDA last week to lead and support four national centres of excellence announced last week. UL will host the Irish Centre for Composites Research with initial funding of €5m and will co-host Competence Centres for BioEnergy, Microelectronics and ... more

THE Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) said the value of its central investment management fund plunged by 23% last year to €1.4bn.

"Turmoil in the financial markets had a significant effect on the performance," the ILCU said in its 2009 annual report. It said the fund recovered some ... more

Ireland, together with Britain and Greece, would face the biggest increases in costs to finance their debt burdens if world interest rates were to rise sharply, Standard & Poor's (S&P), the ratings agency, has warned in a major report.

Europe's sovereign debt may not ease soon and governments ... more

THE Glanbia Co-operative Society is expected to have to pay a premium to the book value of the company's Irish dairy division if its approach for the business is to be successful.

The division, which had sales of €1bn in 2009, has a book value of about €280m. Market ... more

We all know property values have crashed but the anatomy of that crash has become clear with the recent publication of the Society of Chartered Surveyors/Investment Property Database (SCS/IPD) figures and in particular those for the past two years. This is a database of institutional properties and their ... more