Archive for October 2020

IRELAND is in line for €8bn of further borrowing support after the European Central Bank (ECB) signalled it would expand the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) in December. The predicted purchase of an additional €8bn in Irish Government debt next year is on top of the €10bn expected to be purchased by June next year…

Mortgage holders are leaving thousands of euro on the table by failing to switch home loan providers, according to new research by the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI). Three in five eligible mortgages could save more than €1,000 in the first year after switching to a cheaper lender and more than €10,000 over the remaining…

AIB said its performance in the third quarter was more resilient than it had expected with positive momentum reported on a quarterly basis. In a trading update for the three months to the end of September, AIB said it remained comfortable with its full year guidance.  AIB said it granted about 66,000 payment breaks to…

Small and medium sized companies are generally showing signs of resilience in the current challenged trading environment, but there are concerns for particular sectors. That is according to a treasury specialist who works with businesses on managing capital, cash flow and currency moves among other things. John Finn, Managing Director of Treasury Solutions, said the…

Retail sales rose by 1.5 per cent in September boosted by car and DIY sales but several sectors, including bars, were still well behind pre-pandemic levels. The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) also predate the introduction of Level 5 restrictions, which has resulted in the closure of all non-essential retail. This is…

Stocks tumbled in the US and Europe as rising coronavirus infections and tougher lockdowns added to worries about the economic hit from the pandemic. The S&P 500 Index fell more than 2.5pc, headed for the biggest drop in seven weeks, amid a surge in Covid-19 hospitalisations, especially in the Midwest. Energy shares sank with oil…

The average disposable income of Irish households rose by nearly 30 per cent between the financial crisis and last year, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The agency’s latest Survey on Income and Living Conditions shows the average after-tax income of households here stood at €53,118 in 2019. This is 28.3 per cent higher…

Just over 11,000 Irish customer accounts with Bank of Ireland are currently on payment breaks, as Covid-19 continues to impact economic activity. The total value of these loans is €1.9bn. Of these, 6,400 are mortgage accounts. A further 2,800 belong to small and medium businesses, according to a third quarter update from the bank. Customer…

Ireland is one of the best places in Europe for young companies to source investment, list on the stock market and access global capital, according to a new report by the Association of Financial Markets in Europe (AFME). The report, which is an annual benchmarking of key performance indicators for European capital markets, shows that…

There was a significant increase in mortgage approvals in September, but the value of mortgages drawn down in the latest quarter was still down significantly on the same period last year. That is according to the latest figures from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland, which show that first time buyers still account for the bulk of…