The ‘savage’ house price correction now fully underway in the Irish market will see prices falling by 20 to 40 per cent, peak to trough, before bottoming out, according to a panel of the leading Irish economists polled in FINANCE this month.
While the survey predicts falls of 20-40 per cent in house prices in the correction, the panel furthermore, feels, unanimously, that house prices will continue to decline for the rest of 2008, although at a slower pace than over the past twelve months. Most do not see a return to price growth in houses until 2010 at the earliest.
Pressures from rising oil and food prices are dissuading the ECB from cutting interest rates, according to respondents in FINANCE’s Interest Rate & Property Survey.
In an exclusive interview with FINANCE, Terry Smith, chairman of Collins Stewart, the company who acquired ISTC, looks at the immediate plans for ISTC, evaluates ISTC’s business model and the longer term outlook for the business. Smith also looks at other investment opportunities in current markets and looks at the prospects for Ireland where Collins Stewart recently became a trading partner of the Irish Stock Exchange.
The credit crunch has raised many serious questions regarding risk management and prudential supervision processes. It has also highlighted a number of concerns regarding the effectiveness of accounting standards to ensure that financial reporting is providing clear and early information regarding difficulties being encountered by entities, writes Brendan Sheridan.
In July 2008, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank decided to officially launch the TARGET2-Securities (T2S) project and confirmed the provision of resources required until its completion. The EU Presidency and Commission welcomed the ECB’s decision, stating that the project can contribute to one of the EU’s main objectives in financial services, “to promote integration, transparency and competition in clearing and settlement”, writes Hugh Friel of the Irish Banking Federation.
It will be very important to ensure that the forthcoming legislation to implement the EU’s Third Money Laundering Directive (Directive 2005/60/EC)( the 'Directive') clearly establishes the legal obligation of fund administrators to apply customer due diligence measures to the investors in the funds for which fund administrators provide administration services, writes Joe Beashel.
|
An SEC proposal to remove all references that expresses reliance upon credit ratings is part of the ongoing refinement of approach towards credit rating agencies, according to US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner, Paul Atkins in this exclusive interview with FINANCE. Atkins says he and the SEC will watch with ‘interest’ the developments following Commissioner McCreevy’s call for a registration and oversight system in Europe that McCreevy announced at the Finance Dublin Global Financial Services Centres Conference conference on June 16th, which was also addressed by Commissioner Atkins.
The Programme for Government commits the Government to phase in fiscal measures to lower carbon emissions, including a carbon levy over its lifetime. Hence the new Commission on Taxation has been asked to prioritise work in the area of carbon tax. Brian Daly explains why the carbon emissions tax agenda is much wider than the concept of a carbon levy and gives some food for thought on possible pitfalls and opportunities in this area.
The publication by the European Commission of the draft UCITS IV Directive to further improve the efficiency of the European Union's asset management industry was initially delayed due to disagreements among member states in respect of the management company passport. Karen Jennings looks at the key proposals in the draft Directive.
Damian Neylin, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and leader of its investment management practice, gives insight into how the investment management practice of a large accountancy firm operates. From the new Spencer Dock offices, Neylin and his team provide industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to over 60 per cent of the investment funds authorised / administered in Ireland.
|
|
