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Warrant market launched on Irish Stock Exchange
A new market in covered warrants was launched on the Irish Stock Exchange on October 22nd,
with Investec Bank the first to issue the new product. |
Taoiseach’s committees to be restructured
The IFSC Clearing House Group, which operates under the aegis of the Department of the Taoiseach, is to be restructured at the urging of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern. |
Restrictions to be placed on HRRs
The Central Bank will shortly announce guidelines on the use of historical rate roll-over instruments, in order to reduce the risk associated with using this type of forward contract. |
Smufit issues bond
Jefferson Smurfit, the paper and packaging firm, has launched the largest ever high-yield bond from a European company. |
Anglo awards mandate
Anglo Irish Bank has awarded ABN AMRO with its continuous linked settlement (CLS) third party services mandate for foreign exchange transactions. |
Banks must recover confidence and market credibility in order to survive
Professor Ray Kinsella examines the development and strategy of Ireland’s two largest banks in what he calls a ‘watershed’ year for Irish banking - 2002. |
Editorial
New opportunities |
Friends First’s new business
Friends First Holdings, the Irish subsidiary of Eureko, the pan-European financial services group, has acquired Liberty Asset Management Ltd, an independent financial advisor. |
European securitisation market buoyant
The European securitisation market is on target to meet 20 per cent year-on-year growth expectations by the end of 2002 after an impressive third quarter performance, according to statistics released by Standard & Poor’s. |
New member on ISE
Salomon Brothers International has been admitted to the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) as a member firm, and it will act as a primary dealer in Irish Government bonds. |
New partners appointed
Niamh Caffrey and Kevin Murphy have been appointed as partners in Arthur Cox. |
Accountancy firm to integrate
Chapman Flood Mazars, the accounting and consulting firm, is to fully integrate its brand and client services with all other Mazars firms throughout Europe and is to be renamed Mazars. |
Dublin law firm opens New York office
Mason Hayes & Curran (MHC), the Dublin based law firm, has opened a New York office, which will be headed up US lawyer, Daniel Walsh. |
Conference on risk
A panel of internationally recognised risk professionals will address a broad spectrum of risk management issues including enterprise-wide risk management, legal risk, data protection requirements, IT and security risk at the second annual Operational Risk Conference 2002. |
E760 million up for grabs
In one of the largest placements of pension funds in the UK and Ireland this year, the Dublin Courts Service is tendering four investment portfolios totalling E760 million to be managed by one or more fund managers. |
European pensions centre could generate 6000 jobs
If Ireland can achieve its aim of becoming the recognised European centre for managing occupational pensions schemes up to 6,000 skilled jobs could be created, Brendan Logue, manager in the financial services division of IDA Ireland, told delegates at an Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF) Conference on Europe in Dublin on October 17th. |
Success of conference indicative of potential
Over 200 people attended the first Finance Dublin International Securitisation conference, at which Alexander Batchvarov, head of international structured finance research, at Merrill Lynch in London, told the audience that Dublin is an ‘optimal location for European and global securitisation, with one of the most developed investor bases in Europe, many credit enhancers and Irish issuers adding ‘diversity’ to the European securitisation market’. |
US raises the bar for raising capital
Mark Dorff examines the implications of recent US securities & accounting reform legislation for Irish companies. |
The challenge of producing quality research
In the 2002 Finance Stockbroking Survey, the quality of equity research was voted as being the number one criteria by which Irish and international fund managers rank Irish stockbrokers. No surprise in light of the events of the past year, which has seen the independence and integrity of several respected brokerage houses in the US brought into question and several large publicly quoted companies severely damaged by allegations of fraudulent accounting. Finance asked John Sheehan, recently voted ‘Analyst of the Year’ for the second time running in the Finance Stockbroking Survey 2002, which was published in September, to address how important research will be in the coming year. |
ERM - the key to managing risks in treasury
In the first of a two part series, Declan McGivern explains the crucial role enterprise risk management can play in maintaining an effective risk management regime in treasury. |
Venture capitalists remain positive on outlook
While investment in venture capital funds fell in 2001 and looks likely to fall again in 2002, key industry players are optimistic on the future of the sector, and say that many opportunities exist. |
New opportunities for venture capitalists
Aidan Devenny says that the life sciences sector offers many opportunties, particularly in the west and north west of Ireland, because of the healthcare industry, which has clustered in this region and the supporting infrastructure, which is developing around it. |
Buy-out funds are on the increase
Andrew Doyle says that the recent Green Property and Smurfit transactions are representative of a growing trend towards buy-outs. |
Venture capitalists urged to consider funding start-ups
Commenting on current trends in the Irish venture capital sector, Sarah Moores says that a gap is emerging between the types of projects getting investments, with most of the money going to later stage investments and fewer start-ups getting seed capital. |
New venture capital fund off to a flying start
Bank of Ireland Specialist Business Bank is the latest player to join the country’s VC market. Fund manager Brendan Vaughan explains the background to Bank of Ireland’s decision to become a direct participant, describes its early successes and outlines plans for the future. |
Too early for windfalls?
A windfall tax applied to privatised companies four years after they were sold off generated over ?5 billion for the UK Government. Should the Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy adopt the same strategy and generate much needed capital asks Sheila Killian? |
Property is still a worthwhile investment
In spite of the slowdown that the commercial property sector has recently experienced, Marie Hunt says that it is still performing strongly compared to other investment vehicles. |
Do mutual fund investors have a destabilising influence on the stock market?
Noel O’Halloran investigates the theory supported by economists David Hale and Henry Kaufman,that the influence of the mutual fund industry today has increased the fragility of the financial system. |
The changing face of retail banking in Ireland - strategies for profitable growth
Derek Moriarty says that Irish banks are still only in the second stage of reaching profitable growth and have yet to capitalise on tailoring their customer offering further at a local level. |
Technology - a crucial weapon in fighting fraud
Technology can prove vital in preventing fraud says Mike Zehetmayr, but equally important is abiding by the tenet of ‘Know your employee!’ |
Increased reporting requirements for liquidators
Gavin Simmons explains the Company Law Enforcement Act, which established the position of the director of corporate enforcement. |
Who’s who in Finance: Bryan Evans, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers
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Servicing the financial services industry
As director of enterprise solutions in Deloitte & Touche, a typical Monday for William Dolan is split between planning and managing his service-line, and working with his financial sector clients. |
Major leasing case in UK
The UK High Court have refused capital allowances to a UK leasing company in respect of a sale and lease back transaction on a £91m gas pipeline. The deal involved Bord Gáis Éireann. |
Foot shooting again!
The EU are threatening customs duties of up to 100 p.c. on certain imports from the USA. Many of the items potentially targeted are used by Irish businesses. This could affect Irish economic performance and employment. |
Future of the 12.5 p.c. CT rate
The 12.5 p.c. CT rate will arrive in just under three months’ time. Will it survive attempts at killing it at birth? |
Foreign exchange hedging
An overview of foreign exchange hedging by Des Leavy and Rachel Killeen. |
Interest rates forecast to remain unchanged
Each month, the FINANCE Markets Panel, which consists of leading Irish market participants and analysts, provides views on key financial markets, covering currencies, equities and the gilt markets. |
