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EU excludes major banks from bond sales
The European Union has excluded some of the biggest investment banks with past involvement in breaches of antitrust rules from syndicated debt sales backing its up to €800 billion Covid-19 recovery fund, the EU executive said. “The Commission will be undertaking a careful assessment of whether the primary dealers found guilty of breaching anti-trust rules…
Read MoreEU’s commitment to Good Friday Agreement ‘unwavering’, says Gentiloni
Paolo Gentiloni, EU Commissioner for Economy, has said the EU’s commitment to the Good Friday Agreement is “unwavering”. Commissioner Gentiloni made his remarks in an online address to the Institute of International and European Affairs this afternoon. He said this was why the Northern Ireland Protocol was agreed “by both sides…both with their eyes wide…
Read MoreTraffic volumes rise in May as Covid travel curbs ease
New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the volume of cars on Irish roads has been rising slowly since the start of the year after the move to Level 5 restrictions in December. Volumes have been rising more rapidly since travel restrictions lifted in May, the CSO said. The easing of travel restrictions…
Read MoreEmployees want flexibility in where and when they work, survey finds
Over half of employees would consider leaving their job post pandemic if they are not given some form of flexibility in where and when they work, according to a survey carried out by EY. The ‘2021 Work Reimagined Employee Survey’ is an international study conducted among more than 16,000 employees across 16 countries and multiple…
Read MoreIs now a good time to lock into a 20-year mortgage?
Appearing before an Oireachtas Committee at the end of 2016, the then chief executive of Bank of Ireland more or less admitted that the bank was deliberately keeping its variable mortgage interest rate elevated. Richie Boucher was making a big push at the time to get people to opt for one of the bank’s fixed…
Read MoreLack of online services saw 1 in 3 closing credit union accounts – survey
Around a third of people surveyed by a company that provides technical expertise to the credit unions sector said they had closed their credit union accounts because of a lack of online services. The research was carried out on behalf Wellington IT – described as the tech partner for the credit union sector. It found…
Read MoreConstruction activity bounces back, but costs soar
Activity in the construction sector expanded for the first time this year in May, according to Ulster Bank’s latest Purchasing Managers’ Index. The index, which is designed to track changes in overall construction activity on a scale of 1 to 100, passed the 50 no-change mark for the first time since the imposition of restrictions…
Read MoreNAMA increases projected lifetime surplus to €4.25 billion from €4 billion
The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) now expects to provide an overall surplus to the Exchequer over its lifetime of €4.25 billion, up from the previous estimate of €4 billion. The body will provide a further payment to the exchequer of €300m this month and it hopes to make an additional contribution of €500m during…
Read MoreIreland to make strong case for tax competition, says Donohoe
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has said that Ireland will be vigourously making the case for tax competition and for maintaining a corporate tax rate of 12.5%. In negotiations on the issue, Minister Donohoe said he is confident that Ireland will continue to be a really attractive place to do business. Yesterday, Mr Donohoe said that…
Read MoreECB lifts euro zone growth and inflation projections
The European Central Bank has raised its growth and inflation projections for this year and next as the euro zone economy started to roar back to life after over a year of restrictions to curb the coronavirus pandemic. ECB President Christine Lagarde also said the ECB saw risks to growth as “broadly balanced”, a shift…
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