Business News

Euro-area lenders took €233.5bn in free long-term loans from the European Central Bank as they prepare for the potential end of extraordinary stimulus. The take-up in the last of the ECB’s Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operations (TLTROs) – four-year loans at a rate that starts at zero and could go lower – compares with a median […]

The pound jumped yesterday after retail sales in the United Kingdom beat expectations, despite rising inflation. It comes just days after it was announced that inflation in the UK crashed through the Bank of England’s 2pc target last month, pushed up by rising food and fuel prices. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) […]

The State’s Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) will no longer be sole auditor of Nama’s group entities, with the bad bank now drafting in a firm to undertake statutory audit work for the next three years, when the agency expects to be wound up. The C&AG has previously defended its role as Nama’s only auditor […]

Permanent TSB will finalise a clean-up strategy for its problems loans, including mortgages, by mid-year, the Irish Independent has learned, in a move designed to end investor uncertainty about the mounting regulatory pressures facing the lender. Global distressed-debt funds are circling the troubled residential mortgage portfolio of State-backed Permanent TSB, amid intensifying expectations the recovering […]

Profits before tax at Irish listed financial firm IFG fell by 26pc last year to £6.4m(€7.3m), according to preliminary results for 2016 released this morning. Adjusted profit at the company fell by 14pc to £10m(€11.5m) last year, while earnings per share dropped by 7pc over the course of the year. IFG said it had incurred […]

A FUND run by former executives at Goldman Sachs has received €50m from the Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) to develop financial services jobs in Ireland. Reverence Capital Partners Opportunities Fund is run by former Goldman bankers Milton Berlinski, Peter Aberg and Alexander Chulack. The firm is an investment fund that focuses on middle market […]

Inflation in the United Kingdom crashed through the Bank of England’s 2pc target last month, pushed up by rising food and fuel prices. The data highlights in part the impact the Brexit vote has had on the pound. Consumer prices increased by 2.3pc – faster than expected by economists – and marking the biggest annual […]

An initiative that aims to encourage and support Irish entrepreneurs has thrown a little more bait in the pool to entice more ambitious minds. Social Entrepreneurs Ireland are now adding an extra €5,000 to the winnings that applicants can vie for as part of their 2017 Awards Programme The DCC supported project recognises and rewards […]

Japanese bank Nomura has narrowed down its hunt for a post-Brexit European subsidiary, with Frankfurt reportedly emerging as the frontrunner in the latest vote of confidence in the German financial hub. Nomura serves the bulk of its European clients through its regional head offices in London, but the Press Association has reported that it is […]

The European Central Bank (ECB) has said it expects banks with high levels of unpaid loans to submit “ambitious and realistic” plans to bring them down, as it published guidelines on non-performing loans (NPLs). The project to address high levels of NPLs is being spearheaded by the deputy governor of the Irish Central Bank, Sharon […]