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Consumer queries to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission were up 20% last year, with faulty goods and services being the subject of most contacts. Almost 40,000 people contacted the helpline throughout the year. The CCPC has released its helpline report for 2023 to coincide with World Consumer Rights Day. Most queries to the commission…

Europe’s private credit funds are increasingly borrowing from banks to boost their performance, fuelling concerns about the wider risks posed by this interconnectedness. A record 80% of new European private credit funds borrowed from banks via ‘subscription lines’ in 2023, funding that allows them to lend before tapping their investors for cash, MSCI Private Capital…

The average interest rate on new mortgages in Ireland rose in January, according to new data from the Central Bank. At the end of the month, the average rate was 4.27%, up 0.08% from a month earlier. It means rates on new mortgages in Ireland are now the seventh most expensive in the euro area,…

The European Parliament has given the final nod to far-reaching rules on artificial intelligence that the EU hopes will both harness innovation and defend against harms. The law, known as the “AI Act”, was first proposed in April 2021 by the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm. But it was only after Microsoft-funded ChatGPT burst…

The Central Bank told the Department of Finance a scheme for mortgage interest relief would almost exclusively benefit homeowners aged over 40 who were the least likely to have challenges paying back their home loan. In an analysis of Government plans to help mortgage holders in last year’s budget, the Central Bank said the scheme…

New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the rate of household saving fell slightly in the last three months of 2023 and in the year as a whole as inflation continued to drive consumption during the year. Today’s figures show that the Household Saving Rate eased to 10.19% in the fourth quarter of…

The Central Bank has revised downwards slightly its forecasts for growth in the domestic economy this year, but still expects that it will continue to grow at a moderate pace over the next three years. The bank is now predicting that Modified Domestic Demand (MDD) will expand by 2.2% this year, down from its forecast…

One in every five car owners are planning to get rid of their car over the coming years, new research has found. The rising cost of running a car is among the big drivers, the survey discovered, with almost two thirds citing this as an influence on their decision. However, just over three quarters said…

The European Central Bank is increasingly confident that inflation is coming down, but should still hold off on an interest rate cut until June, Slovak Governing Council member Peter Kazimir said today. The ECB held rates unchanged at a record high last week, but its chief Christine Lagarde said discussions over easing policy have begun…

Construction activity continued to contract in February, but at a slower pace than a month earlier, new data shows. The BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland Construction Index climbed to 47.4, up from 45.9 in January. With any score under 50 representing a contraction, that was the weakest rate of decline in five months. Residential construction…