| Caplin Meehan joins network |
Issue: 12 / 2004 |
| Caplin Meehan, the Dublin based chartered accountants and business advisors, who emerged as Ireland’s fastest growing accountancy firm in the FINANCE Annual Accountancy survey 2004, with annual growth of 19.3 per cent, has joined the Moore Stephens network as part of a strategic drive to further expand their growing portfolio of international clients and their position in the Irish market. |
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| Christmas tips for finance bookworms |
Issue: 12 / 2004 |
| Can’t quite stop thinking about work over Christmas? For those of you who may feel lonely away from the world of finance, Alan Soughley and Fiona Reddan present a brief overview to some of the best financial books – both classic and new – that will keep you busy over the Christmas holidays. |
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| Davy wins as quality of research is still key |
Issue: 12 / 2004 |
| For the third year in a row, the FINANCE Stockbroking Survey shows that, for fund managers, the quality of equity research is the main factor they consider in choosing a stockbroker. Davy Stockbrokers has won out as providing the best research, but Goodbody's analysts dominate. |
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| DEPFA moves treasury to Dublin |
Issue: 12 / 2004 |
| Ahead of the planned sale of Dublin based public finance bank DEPFA Bank’s German subsidiary, Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, which is expected to happen in 2005, all treasury functions of the bank have been moved to Dublin. |
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| IAS progresses but many issues still to resolve |
Issue: 12 / 2004 |
| The EU has concluded the endorsement process for IAS 39 but there are still a number of questions left regarding its application. Brendan Sheridan examines these issues, among which is the stance to be taken by Ireland's standard setter, the Accounting Standard Board. |
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| Industry welcomes approval of IAS 39, but concerns remain |
Issue: 12 / 2004 |
| The decision taken on November 19th by the European Commission to adopt a regulation endorsing IAS 39 has been welcomed by the Irish financial reporting industry, as it brings to a close one stage in this long-drawn out process. |
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| On the road: Bank of Ireland goes global to sell its first covered bond issue |
Issue: 12 / 2004 |
| In September 2004, Bank of Ireland raised €2 billion in the first Irish mortgage backed asset covered securities (ACS) transaction. Vincent Digby describes how Bank of Ireland went on the most comprehensive debt roadshow ever undertaken by the bank, which saw three teams travel across Asia, Scandinavia and continental Europe, to sell this transaction. |
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| Record first month on NYMEX |
Issue: 12 / 2004 |
| Trading in Brent crude oil futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) in Dublin exceeded all previous records in its first month of business in November. |
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| Securitisation update: Ireland is a top centre for CLO management |
Issue: 12 / 2004 |
| With 10 collateralised loan obligations (CLOs) outstanding, from a host of managers including AIB, Avoca Capital, Bank of Ireland and Harbourmaster Capital, Ireland has become the second largest location for the management of CLOs globally, ahead of France and the US. Over €4 billion in CLO deals are now managed in Ireland by these four institutions, with DEPFA recently joining the fray in November with its ?391.7 million UK Private Finance Initiative (PFI) CLO. |
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| Strength of covered bond market assured as global popularity spreads to countries such as Mexico |
Issue: 12 / 2004 |
| From their origins in 18th century Germany to their current international profile as the safe financing instrument of choice, covered bonds are enjoying a surge in popularity. Ted Lord and Eldar Mezbur look at how economic developments and increasing sophistication are spurring the growth of the covered bond market. |
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| Striking a balance with corporate compliance will be key to creating a workable framework |
Issue: 12 / 2004 |
| The development of a corporate compliance code in Ireland has been a long and tortuous process that is yet to be completed. Terence O'Rourke argues against enshrining detailed statutory requirements in law in favour of a pan industry and regulator code, saying, 'One of the lessons we should take from this process is that it is difficult to enshrine in legislation detailed requirements when their application, when assessed from a pragmatic and practical viewpoint, requires appropriate tweaking and amendment'. Citing the Higgs Report on the role of non-executive directors, he states that the law is not a good place to set out strict requirements like compliance statements. Business and regulators could come to agree a sensible regime much quicker if they were unimpeded by the detailed statutory requirements of legislation, he says. |
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| The obstacles standing in the Capital Adequacy Directive’s way |
Issue: 12 / 2004 |
| Several key issues relating to the new Capital Adequacy Directive, some as basic as translation of the directive into the myriad of new EU languages, have still to be addressed, writes Paul O’Connor, adding that the Irish Bankers Federation would like to see improved coordination and cooperation amongst national supervisory authorities in the EU before the Directive is finalised. |
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| Who’s who in Finance: Stefano Vaiani, Managing Director, UniCredito Italiano Bank (Ireland) plc |
Issue: 12 / 2004 |
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| A ‘first world’ economy and finance sector |
Issue: 11 / 2004 |
| International Monetary Fund managing director, Rodrigo de Rato, has defined four criteria for a country to have a first world economy. The first is transparency in policy making, the second is a strong financial sector, the third is well developed capital markets and the fourth is a flexible foreign exchange policy. |
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| Banking industry backs IFSRA strategy |
Issue: 11 / 2004 |
| Individual banks have refused to make their feelings known on the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority’s (IFSRA) recent strategy document, but the industry's representative body, the Irish Bankers Federation (IBF), has welcomed the general trend of the plan, although it has stressed that some significant issues remain to be resolved. |
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