TINNEY WANTS BACK ON EBS BOARD - The EBS Building Society gathers today for its annual general meeting in Dublin. Last year's AGM saw a full blown row as board member Eithne Tinney fought attempts to oust her by fellow board members. Amidst acrimonious claim and counterclaim, she was defeated by a reasonably slim margin in the members' vote. Ms Tinney had criticised directors' pay and also some of the strategies pursued by the board. The board said Ms Tinney had not performed to a sufficiently high standard as a director.
Ms Tinney says she is putting herself before the board for re-election again this year because the last year has not been a very good one for the building society. She says she has been watching developments at EBS with 'dismay' and decided that she had unfinished business to do for the members. Some of the things which affected her decision was the sudden resignation of Ted McGovern, the building society's CEO and talk of a deal with Britannia, which fell through in the Autumn without any explanation. Another problem she highlights is the fact that the society's rates are just not competitive.
Ms Tinney says she is prepared for triumph or disaster at today's AGM and adds that she hopes there is a great turnout at the meeting today.
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STATE'S PENSION LIABILITY JUMPS - Last week the answer to a question posed in the Dail by Labour Party Finance Spokesperson Joan Burton revealed a fascinating financial nugget - the state's pension liability to all its civil and public servants stands at a whopping €75 billion. That is considerably more than previously thought. Joan Burton says the answer came from the Finance Minister Brian Cowen. She says it seems as though the life expectancy tables for civil servants have been revised upwards. In other words if a civil servant retires at 65 they are now expected - based on the work done by insurance companies - to live for approximately 22 years. That has pushed up the estimated cost to the state, to the taxpayer and indeed the civil servants themselves who contribute from their salaries into their pension funds, to €75 billion from an estimated €45 billion. Ms Burton adds that government departments do not actually publish a lot of detailed information in relation to pension liabilities.
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MORNING BRIEFS - Staff in RTE begin balloting later today for industrial action in a dispute over pensions. The row centres around a union push to restore defined benefit pension arrangements to all staff at the national broadcaster. An internal procedure has failed to resolve the issue.
*** And no surprises that the Ulster Bank's monthly analysis of trends in the construction sector shows the decline very much evident again in March. While the pace of the slow down is easing, job losses were at a record during the month and employee numbers have fallen now for 11 consecutive months.
*** The UK Chancellor, Alistair Darling, has invited the bosses of Britain's mortgage lenders to breakfast tomorrow. He is to tell them to pass on interest rate cuts to borrowers. The Bank of England injected £15 billion into the markets amid the credit crisis but, in many cases, have been slow to pass on rate reductions while many of the 'better deal' mortgage products have been axed by lenders.
*** On the currency markets this morning, the euro is weaker against a rallying dollar. It is worth $1.5697 and 79.84 pence sterling.
