| Corporates choose PIKs |
Issue: 03 / 2005 |
| Two of Ireland’s largest private corporates, Jefferson Smurfit and Ardagh Glass, have both issued callable payment in kind (PIK) issues in the past month. |
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| Debate on tax harmonisation is missing the point |
Issue: 03 / 2005 |
| Debate on the controversial topic of tax harmonisation has missed some key points, according to Mike Hayes and Antra Bhargava, who argue that not only are there many factors to consider when assessing relative tax burdens, but that the newly enlarged EU is most certainly not ready for harmonisation of corporate tax. |
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| Demand for Dublin office space rises |
Issue: 03 / 2005 |
| Demand for office space in Dublin soared in 2004, rising 21 per cent on the year, marking the best performance of the market since the boom year of 1998, according to a report from Jones Lang LaSalle. |
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| Dublin’s financial services future on agenda at Finance Dublin April conference |
Issue: 03 / 2005 |
| The Minister for Finance and EU Commissioner McCreevy will address over 250 delegates at the 6th Annual Finance Dublin Conference to be held in Dublin Castle on Tuesday April 5th and Wednesday April 6th. |
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| EU Transparency Directive to enhance interim reporting |
Issue: 03 / 2005 |
| The introduction of the EU’S Transparency Directive into Irish legislation over the next two years will require major changes in how corporates report their performance in line with the IFRS standard on interim reporting, with the addition of interim management statements to current reporting requirements, and increased management responsibility for interim reporting in line with corporate governance standards, writes Brendan Sheridan. |
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| European covered bonds - how to find value in today’s market |
Issue: 03 / 2005 |
| The launch of Irish covered bonds in 2003 spurred Irish investors to allocate to this asset class, and Ireland is now one of the biggest centres for covered bond investors in Europe. After two years of outperformance of these bonds, and with a host of new countries entering the market including Italy and Norway, spreads versus government bonds and swaps have now reached historically tight levels. So where can investors find value? Ralf Grossman recommends selective bond picking, and participation in selected primary market transactions. |
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| FEXCO continues to target new international markets |
Issue: 03 / 2005 |
| Global payments company FEXCO has come a long way since it first established itself as a VAT refund operation in 1981, and now has operations in Finland, Malta and Australia, to name just a few locations. Declan Byrne describes its international strategy and discusses the challenges and opportunities FEXCO met along the way. |
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| Finance Bill brings surprise for industry |
Issue: 03 / 2005 |
| Amendments to the Finance Bill will have far reaching implications for the financial services industry. The new measures will lead to an increase in the tax payable by Irish resident policy holders, while, according to its detractors, increasing unnecessarily the administrative burden on non-resident policy holders. |
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| Finance Bill imposes extra tax burden on resident assurance policyholders |
Issue: 03 / 2005 |
| New measures contained in the Finance Bill 2005 surprised the life assurance industry by changing the definition of a chargeable event for policies linked to funds. Jim Murphy writes that this will increase the tax payable by Irish resident policy holders, while increasing unnecessarily the administrative burden on non-resident policy holders. |
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| First Irish exchange-traded fund opens up new market for Irish investors |
Issue: 03 / 2005 |
| Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) have taken the world’s financial markets by storm in recent years with billions currently invested in a range of funds spanning all the major global stock markets. And now, for the first time, an ETF that has been designed to track the performance of the Irish equity market is about to be launched on the Irish Stock Exchange, writes Peter Duff. |
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| Ireland issues $500 million bond |
Issue: 03 / 2005 |
| The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has just priced its first dollar bond in ten years, taking advantage of an arbitrage opportunity. |
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| ISE readies ISEQ 20 launch |
Issue: 03 / 2005 |
| The first Irish Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), the ISEQ?20, looks set for a March launch, pending approval from the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA). |
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| Jobs in hedge funds abound |
Issue: 03 / 2005 |
| As Dublin’s reputation as the leading European centre for hedge fund servicing continues to grow, so too do the number of positions available in this sector, with expansion plans by PFPC and IFS leading to significant demand for appropriate candidates. |
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| Key stability on the $306.5 billion global ETF market |
Issue: 03 / 2005 |
| The global Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) market continues to grow, with nine new ETFs launched in January - four in Israel, three in Europe and two in the US. A further sixty new ETFs are planned this year - fourteen in Europe (including the first Irish ETF), forty-four in the US and two in China, says Deborah Fuhr. |
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| KPMG sets up Irish tax centre in US |
Issue: 03 / 2005 |
| KPMG has established an Ireland Tax Centre of Excellence in New York, which will assist and advise U.S. companies that currently have or are planning operations in Ireland. The Centre of Excellence will also provide tax services to Ireland-based companies with investment interests in the United States. Pat O’Brien, a tax partner with the Ireland member firm of KPMG International, has been appointed head of the Centre and will be based in KPMG’s New York office. |
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