10,000 IFSC JOBS TARGETED IN MAJOR NEW STRATEGY - A new strategy for the IFSC aimed at creating 10,000 additional jobs over the next five years has been drawn up for the Government and is set to be considered by the Cabinet later this month, says the Irish Times.
Following months of consultation and more than 100 submissions from industry and the public sector, a group chaired jointly by the Departments of Finance and the Taoiseach has presented a draft strategy with 22 proposed actions to Minister of State Simon Harris, who has responsibility for the IFSC. A major focus is being placed on driving employment among financial technology (FinTech) companies, which are involved in payment processing, innovation in electronic banking, and reducing fraud. The document, entitled Vision and Targets for IFS 2020, calls for the IDA and Enterprise Ireland to “drive collaboration between Ireland’s IT and IFS sectors - both indigenous and multinational - to win additional FinTech investments”. In addition, it is recommended that they review funding mechanisms for start-ups, including the feasibility of developing a “dedicated syndicate to fund FinTech start ups”. Other proposals include creating a “banner brand” for the IFSC, possibly expanding its footprint in Dublin’s docklands, where the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) has control over a large number of sites.
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NAMA SALES PROCESS ON COURSE TO BE 'SPEEDED UP' - International investors are becoming increasingly confident that Nama will have begun selling the vast majority of its remaining assets before the end of this year. The State bad bank has repeatedly said it is aiming to have repaid 80% of its bonds by the end of 2016. Investment funds dealing with the agency, however, believe that timeline has been accelerated sharply, writes the Irish Independent. Numerous overseas players who are in the market for property and loans being sold by the agency say there has been a noticeable uptick in the speed at which assets are now being brought to market, as the firm tries to take advantage of the upturn in the Irish property market. Last year Nama boss Brendan McDonagh said his agency would bring assets worth at least €250m to the market every three months as the market picked up. This weekend it emerged that Nama is preparing loans and property worth about €8 billion for sale. The investors, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they are doing business with Nama, said they had been surprised at how anxious the bad bank was to get sales done, and say this is a notable change from previous transactions they had been involved in. A Nama spokesman declined to comment. A number of properties that have not been put up for sale yet are thought to need extensive work before they can be in a condition to be sold.
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SOFTWARE FIRM SEES PROFITS SLUMP 46% - Pre-tax profits at the Irish arm of software firm, Novell Software dropped by 46%, to $50m (€44.3m), last year in spite of revenues increasing. Newly filed accounts for the US-owned Novell Ireland Software Ltd show a drop in profit from $93.1m, but a rise in annual revenues from $273.48m to $286.89m. The company, based at the Sandyford Business Estate in Dublin, acts as the principal for the Novell group operations in the Europe, Middle East and Africa territories, says the Irish Examiner. The firm develops, sells and installs enterprise quality software that is positioned in the operating systems and infrastructure software layers of the IT industry. The firm - which employs 91 people at its Dublin base - last year paid dividends of $85m following a dividend payout of $50m in 2013. According to the directors’ report, the decrease in profitability “is primarily due to the profit on disposal of intellectual property contract rights in the prior year”.
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EURO ZONE ALARM GROWS OVER GREEK BAILOUT BRINKMANSHIP - Euro zone officials are increasingly worried that Greece’s brinkmanship over its bailout will plunge the country into financial chaos after its finance minister said on Sunday that it would take up to four months to agree a “new contract” with creditors. Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s newly appointed finance minister, said Athens would reject any further loans under its international rescue plan, despite Greece’s €172 billion bailout expiring at the end of the month, reports the Financial Times. He also said he expected the European Central Bank to prop up the country’s weakened banking system until a longer-term settlement could be reached. Mr Varoufakis said Greece had been living for the next loan tranche for the past five years. “We have resembled drug addicts craving the next dose. What this government is all about is ending the addiction,” he said, noting it was time to go “cold turkey”. His comments on Sunday underscored the fears of eurozone officials that the Greek government was unaware of the precariousness of its financial situation. “Everybody [in the eurozone] wants a deal,” said one senior eurozone official. “But through their actions and their rhetoric, the new government is making a lot of people upset. They are putting themselves in an impossible situation.” Mr Varoufakis was speaking in Paris on the first leg of a European tour intended to garner support for a renegotiation of its debt burden.
