Business News

The State’s consumer protection body has fired a warning shot across the bows of banks that use cashback deals and loyalty discounts to compete for mortgage customers. However, in a lengthy report into the sector, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), which is chaired is Isolde Goggin, effectively found that banks’ difficulty repossessing homes […]

Property-related loans accounted for 30pc of total new lending to non-financial sector SMEs last year, the Central Bank has said. Lending to non-financial sector small and medium sized businesses jumped by over €1bn – or close to a third – in 2016 compared with the same period in 2015. “The main driver of the increase […]

Rental costs have continued to increase but there are signs that the rises may be moderating. Private sector rents were up 7.37pc in the year for the first three months of the year. But the increase was less than 0.1pc when compared with the three previous months, according to the Residential Tenancies Board, the State […]

House prices are not overvalued here even if they are rising strongly, the Central Bank has said. Prices have risen by about 50pc since they bottomed out in 2013, but are still 31pc below their peak. Prices have climbed more than 10pc in the past year alone, sparking fears of another property bubble. A global […]

The European Union plans to give itself powers to move euro clearing business away from London’s financial sector to the EU after Brexit and to adopt a model closer to that operated by the United States. The draft law would, as a last resort, force euro-denominated clearing business to shift from London to the bloc […]

Until recently Euro clearing was an obscure corner of the financial markets that mattered mostly to the people who worked in it and their clients. Clearing is part of the plumbing that keeps financial markets churning along. Clearing houses stand between the parties to big financial trades and speed up what can be complex transactions. […]

Holidaymakers are taking huge risks by not buying adequate travel insurance, a financial expert has warned. Families are leaving themselves financially exposed by having no travel cover in place or by having inadequate insurance. Many holidaymakers rely on the fact they have health insurance, but this often does not cover them for claims if they […]

Your Business Live, Ireland’s major SME event brings you the Irish Business Monitor – an indicator for businesses in Ireland, in partnership with SFA, IBEC and Enterprise Ireland. Please answer our survey to ensure that your business is part of this monitor across sectors, industries and regions. Your contribution is important to us. Your Business […]

Oil rose on Monday to break a three-day losing streak, after futures traders increased their bets on a renewed price upswing even though rising US drilling helped keep physical markets bloated. Brent crude futures were up by 85 cents at $49 per barrel by midday, after hitting a session high of $49.15. US West Texas […]

Mobile phone charges for roaming calls and texts in the EU are to finally end this week. However, consumers are being warned that they could still face steep EU roaming bills for using services such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. The new EU-wide law comes into force on Thursday, June 15. Under the rules, all […]