| |
Economists expect house prices to rise 60 per cent by 2005
Economists expect residential property prices to grow by 60 per cent in the period 2000-2004, the annual Finance property survey reveals. |
Finance recruitment casts the net wide
Many Irish companies are having to recruit outside the country to fill senior finance positions, whilst existing personnel are increasingly being enticed to stay put by the use of bonuses and perks, according to the Spring 2000 salary survey from recruitment consultants, SkillsGroup International. |
Spollen leads seminar on protecting assets
Tony Spollen’s first seminar since the Public Accounts Committee DIRT Inquiry, on May 8th at the Hibernian United Services Club, drew a capacity audience of senior business people. |
Kearns plans fast-track PPPs
Eammon Kearns, the newly appointed head of the PPP unit in the Department of Finance, plans to hit the ground running in his new post and have the pilot PPP projects operational in the short term. |
Clearance for UBIM sale by end June
Sales of standalone investment management companies have been rare in Ireland. The Ulster Bank Investment Managers sale was the largest so far. |
Brokers not paying up for investor compensation
Poor rate of contributions revealed in ICCL report |
Only IEP7m in ‘dormant’ assurance policies
The Irish Insurance Federation has had preliminary discussions with the Department of Finance concerning the issue of dormant accounts in the insurance industry. |
McGrory-Farrell urges accountants to embrace IT
Information technology has revolutionised the accountancy profession and led to a fundamental shift in the role of the modern accountant, according to Ms Bernadette McGrory-Farrell, president of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CPA). |
Financial sector counting on new product and service developments
European financial services companies are counting on new product and service developments to compete more effectively and to deliver enhanced shareholder value over the next three years, according to a report from Xerox, the document company. |
IMF calls for action on property prices
The International Monetary Fund has called on governments in eurozone countries with overheating property markets to take restrictive fiscal and regulatory action. |
EDITORIAL
The fourth annual Finance property survey comes after a year of heightened debate and controversy. |
Property price increases of 60
per cent expected by 2005
The fourth annual Finance survey of economists’ expectations for residential property price increases over a five year timeframe shows that opinion is strongly convinced about continued increases, albeit at an falling rate. The highest price increase expected in the period 2000-2004 is 91 per cent, the lowest is minus 3 per cent. |
Range of property investment structures offers variety of advantages and disadvantages
John Walsh surveys the legal structures commonly used and sets out the pros and cons of each. |
Immigration policy to account for housing demand of 12,500 per year
The government’s plan to liberalise immigration for skilled workers will likely attract people who need family housing, and double the ESRI’s projection of housing demand from immigration alone. The accommodation of asylum seekers will also provide a new stimulus to housing demand over the next six years, writes Annette Hughes. |
Demand for retailing space up
As the economy and consumer spending continue to grow, demand for prime retailing locations is underpinned, and is not likely to be undermined by internet retailing, writes Fintan Tierney. |
Industrial market to gain most from e-commerce
Shortened leases, changed covenant policy and internet share options in return for cabling are some of effects of the e-commerce revolution for property investors, writes Brian Turner. |
Checklist of top ten property law issues for commercial investors
Christina McGuckian, winner of the Butterworth’s prize for best performance in property for both sittings of the 1998 final Law Society exams first part, gives a brief resume of a selection of key areas of law for property development. |
E-commerce scorecard postive for UK property
The UK specialist property management consulting company, Chesterton, which works with Farrell Grant Sparks in Ireland, has summarised its view of the effect of e-commerce on property development in the UK. |
Buoyancy to continue as returns over 20 per cent earned in last five years
Marie Hunt reviews the market from an investor’s point of view. |
Rather than falling, Dublin residential prices continue to rise
The factors underpinning demand are very robust and increased construction levels have not yet significantly altered supply, so the outlook is for sustained price inflation in the Dublin market, writes Marian Finnegan. |
Strong views heard at IAPF pensions conference
As work continues in the Department of Finance on the preparation of a bill to establish funded public pensions, with a target of publication this summer, the debate on the approach to be taken to investment management and governance opens up. |
Plenty of new houses, but not in the right places
Unfortunately the Annual Housing Statistics Report for 1999 differs from reality. |
Financing opportunities for wind farm development not fully taken up
Convinced that there is more scope for lending to wind energy developments, Niall King, sets out the characteristics of the elements of finance for alternative energy plants - equity, debt and tax based lending. |
Recent changes in the Listing Rules - Continuing Obligations
Over the last eighteen months a number of significant changes were made to the Listing Rules some of which have only recently come into effect |
New European law to affect credit management and debt collection
Irish law has yet to deal adequately with the issue of late payment by companies. Gary Rice of Beauchamps Solicitors reviews developments in European legislation which should improve the position. |
Distance selling: many more hurdles for e-banking
The proposed EU distance selling directive for financial services will impose new, sometimes thorny, regulations on e-banking and e-insurance, writes Edward Madden, and these could have the effect of undermining the advantages of internet financial services. |
The internet and Irish financials
Goodbody Stockbrokers undertook compiling a major report entitled ‘@gony or e-cstasy?’ which examined the potential impact of the internet on financial institutions in general and on Irish ones in particular. Here are some extracts. |
Let’s simplify stamp duty
Business reorganisations are frequent occurrences. Stamp duty and capital duty reliefs are critical to them. These reliefs should be simplified. |
You are being watched
The improvement in information technology is being matched in its speed of development by agreements between Revenues to exchange information. These moves may enable Revenue Authorities to deal with the globalisation of finance and business. |
In praise of the lodger
Ireland has been experiencing a housing crisis. Many people wishing to buy their own home find it unaffordable. The tax system has been used to discriminate in favour of home buyers and against those letting accommodation. Is this wise? |
UK tax ideas
The UK Finance Bill contains some interesting ideas which we would do well to copy. |
Share ownership up
Research released by Goodbody Stockbrokers in April showed that the Eircom flotation increased share ownership by an estimated 4 percentage points to 18 per cent of adults. |
Hey, big lender
Christine Moran, Associate Director in the corporate lending department of IIB Bank, is responsible for large corporate relationships, structured transactions and MBOs and MBIs. An FCA, she trained with Pricewaterhouse Coopers from 1982 to 1987. |
The ‘long term view’ built Goldman Sachs, but what now?
Peter Blessing reviews “Goldman Sachs - The Culture of Success” by Lisa Endlich , Warner Books stg9.99 |
Headhunters being paid in stock, too
Never mind the cash, feel the stock: professional practices do it, executive directors do it, suppliers and consultants do it - so why not executive search firms? Leading Edinburgh based recruitment consultant Joanna Black writes about a widening practice. |
Psychometric testing growing for finance recruitment
Increasing numbers of companies are using psychometric testing as part of the selection process for senior finance professionals. About 10 per cent of companies seeking finance directors now use the tests. In order to see what weight is put on the results by recruiters and to ascertain what traits are regarded as being advantageous for high level finance positions, Finance talked to KPMG recruitment specialists John McCullough and Avril Farrell. |
Wild geese
The flock this month includes an investment manager in Scotland and a financial services consulting partner from London |
Wild geese
The flock this month includes an investment manager in Scotland and a financial services consulting partner from London |
Who’s who in Finance: Conor O'Brien, Partner, Arthur Andersen
|
Who’s who in Finance: Sarah Loftus, General Manager, EBS Asset Managers
|
Who’s who in Finance: Colm Kearney, Professor of Finance, Business School, Dublin City University
|
Who’s who in Finance: David Sanfey, Head of Commercial Department, A & L Goodbody Solicitors
|
Customer relationship management offered by life assurer to broker network - e-commerce solution for brokers
Hibernian Life CGU recently launched a service which allows internet access for brokers to administrative details on customers, a platform which is capable of being implemented for other life assurers too. Vincent Nolan believes that this will be ‘an e-commerce solution for brokers who want to survive the challenge of direct writers’. |
Breaking a taboo: why sell someone else’s financial services?
There are many good reasons to offer another producer’s products through proprietary distribution channels, particularly in virtual financial services, but a key condition is to protect one’s own intellectual capital, writes Owen Purcell. |
Financing MBOs: the legal issues
A manager getting involved in an MBO is faced with issues - negotiating, legal, financial - that may never have come across the desk before. The learning curve can be steep according to David O’Donnell. |
Managing euro weakness
No-one predicted the euro would fall by as much as it has this year. Finance asked John Rice, a treasury specialist, from AIB Corporate Treasury how corporate treasury managers do, and should, adjust to euro weakness. |
