CENTRAL BANK TO LOOK AT OVERDRAFT CHARGES - The Irish Independent says the high cost for consumers of going into the red on their current accounts will be investigated by the Central Bank.
The paper says Permanent TSB is the worst offender, charging customers 28% if they end up in an 'unauthorised' overdraft situation. But its adds that AIB, Bank of Ireland, NIB and Ulster Bank also impose high interest rates and surcharges on those who end up overdrawn on their accounts.
An overdraft is a loan you arrange through your current account. It allows you to spend more money than you have in your current account up to an agreed limit, known as the 'overdraft limit'. The interest rates for an agreed, or authorised, overdraft vary from 10.62% charged by NIB to 16.3% charged by Permanent TSB. But if you do not have an agreed overdraft, or if you exceed the overdraft limit, then surcharges kick in.
The Indo quotes the Central Bank's assistant director general, Bernard Sheridan, who is responsible for consumer protection, as saying there is concern consumers could be vulnerable to sky-high overdraft charges.
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ECB 'TO USE BEST RATING' FOR GREEK DEBT - The Financial Times quotes a senior finance official as saying that the European Central Bank will continue to accept Greek debt as collateral for loans unless all the major credit rating agencies it uses declare it to be in default.
According to the FT, the official said the ECB would rely on the principle of using the best rating available from the agencies - Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch.
The comments came after S&P on Monday became the first agency to warn that a plan, pushed by France and endorsed by Germany, for banks to roll over their holdings of Greek debt into new bonds would constitute a 'selective default'.
The paper says the ECB's support is crucial given that Greek banks are almost entirely dependent on it for funding. Analysts had feared that the ECB's seemingly tough Greek stance could lead to the collapse of the Greek banking system, whose borrowings from the ECB topped €100 billion last month.
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UK DUTY BLAMED FOR US AIRLINE'S NI LOSSES - The Irish Times says the fact that the airline currently operating the only air link between North America and Northern Ireland is extremely unhappy about UK air passenger taxes is causing concern.
Continental Airlines, which carries about 100,000 passengers every year between Belfast and Newark, has revealed that the route is actually loss-making.
The paper quotes Bob Schumacher, the airline's managing director of sales for Britain and Ireland, as saying that the 'full responsibility for the financial losses' that Continental is suffering lies squarely on the shoulders of the UK's air passenger duty rates.
Schumacher says the airline has paid just over £1m to date in air passenger duty to the UK treasury and is likely to pay in the region of £3.2m for the full year.
For an airline which states up front that it is in Northern Ireland to make 'profit', it is a worrying state of affairs, says the Irish Times.
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TIPPERARY CO-OP PROFITS DOUBLED - The Irish Examiner says Tipperary Co-op has reported a 17% jump in sales for 2010, up to €146m from €125m in 2009, while profit before tax doubled to €784,000.
The paper says the co-op's cheese division performed strongly during 2010 with a total cheese commercialisation of 15,000 tonnes, inclusive of its French subsidiary company Tippagral.
Tippagral had its own challenges during 2010 as the price of its raw materials increased substantially but the business continues to be a key element of the Co-op's cheese strategy.
Tipperary Co-op is also a prominent supplier of specialised dairy ingredients to the ever growing infant formula sector. The Co-op also manufactures specialised products for the Irish Dairy Board Kerrygold Brand range and has continued to grow and strengthen its position as one of the key suppliers to the Kerrygold lactic butter market in Germany.
