GAMES ENTREPRENEUR NOT AFRAID OF MONSTERS - Irish online games entrepreneur Dylan Collins, who has seen many past successes, has just invested in a technology start-up in the UK behind an online game called Fight My Monster. He sold DemonWare to Activision Blizzard, and Jolt Online Gaming to GameStop in recent times. In Fight My Monster, your monster fights other kids' monsters. Three million monsters have been created and six million battles fought. It has already gained 110, 000 players, 80% of them are male and between 7 and 11 years of age. 20,000 parents have registered too. Growth to date is 40% a month.
Dylan Collins says that Ireland is the biggest online gaming hub in Europe and the industry will be worth about €20 billion by the end of the year. He says he was attracted to Fight My Monster because he was aware that as kids graduate from playing 'Penguin' on the internet, the girls progressed to Moshi Monsters, while boys went all over the place. Now they can be directed to the Fight My Monster site. Mr Collins predicts a very bright future for the online gaming industry.
***
EXPERTS SAYS FIXED MORTGAGES THE WAY FORWARD - Home housing economist Ronan Lyons says variable rate mortgages should be banned, and all new mortgages should be fixed. John Finn, of Cork based Treasury Solutions, says he agrees that offering consumers fixed rate mortgages only is a good idea as it gives people certainty about their disposal income and spending. He says when people are unsure of the future, including rates, they save more instead of spending, which is what the economy really needs. Mr Finn predicts that the ECB will not raise rates at their next meeting and markets are now beginning to reassess the rate and speed of increases during the year.
On the decision by Bank of Ireland, Irish Life and EBS to burn subordinated bond holders, Mr Finn says it came as no surprise and predicts that more will come. He says that the AIB case before the court today seems to be based on a legal technicality.
On Greece, Mr Finn says that he believes the country's debts will be pushed out further to enable them to avoid defaulting. He suggests that 25-30 year bonds with very low interest costs as a possibility and says it all comes down to cash flow.
***
MORNING BRIEFS - Former EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has been named a non-executive director of the financial market trading company WorldSpreads. WorldSpreads says Mr McCreevy will take 'an active' part in the company's growth through Europe, developing new partnerships with banks, stockbrokers and other financial third parties, in line with the company's growth strategy. Charlie McCreevy is also a non-executive director of Sports Direct International and Ryanair; and a director of Dublin-based Bank of New York Mellon Clearing Group. Last October an ethics committee in Brussels blocked the former commissioner's board appointment to NBNK Investments.
*** On the currency markets this morning, the euro is trading at $1.4366 cents and 87.93 pence.
