BERNANKE URGES INCREASE OF US DEBT CEILING - Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve has warned that America's credit rating is at risk if its borrowing limit is not raised.
Bernanke said the US could lose its triple-A credit rating if Congress doesn't vote in favour of lifting its €14.3 trillion dollar debt ceiling. If there is no deal by August, the US could start defaulting on its debt.
He said any delay in the US government making payments could cause chaos on global financial markets and damage the dollar's status as a reserve currency.
James Hughes, senior market analyst at Alpari UK says that to some extent, Bernanke's statement was a statement of the obvious, and that this was reflected in markets' reaction to his comments. He says that the dollar is already losing its sway as a dominant currency in the world, and that the whole world looks to the US as a barometer for how the world economy is doing. He said any default would be catastrophic.
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BANK OF IRELAND TO HOLD ANNUAL GENERAL COURT - Bank of Ireland holds its Annual General Court this morning in Dublin, where shareholders will go through the usual motions of accepting the annual accounts for last year, and voting on certain changes at board level.
But so much has changed at Irish banks that for the last few years AGMs have been much noisier affairs.
The bank needs €5.2 billion by the end of July - about €2 billion from bondholders, about €2.2 billion in a rights issue and €1 billion from the Government.
In March the Financial Regulator told the bank it had to raise that €5.2 billion euro in new capital to meet tough new capital standards set by the Central Bank and the Regulator as part of this year's stress tests. It is part of the way through this, but is not yet in a position to give the full details of the plan, and will publish a prospectus on that in coming days.
Along with other banks Bank of Ireland also planning to burn subordinated bondholders - they are expected to make a 'significant contribution' to its capital requirement, or take a good hit on their investments.
The bank, which is battling to stay below State ownership of 50%, warns that if investors don't agree to the cuts the State holding could rise to 87%.
Regular shareholders are also expected to be called on to take part in a rights issue: when new shares are offered to existing shareholders at a discount from the price they'll be offered to the public later. Bank of Ireland shareholders agreed to one of these last year, so they won't be happy to see their investment diluted again. Last year's investment has already gone down by nearly 75%.
There is also likely to be discussion about board members: the bank is under fire for not clearing out all of its pre-crisis directors. There is also the issue of loans totalling €35m to people connected to the bank's governor, Pat Molloy.
Richie Boucher, the bank's chief executive, is one of the directors who are up for re-election today.
A total of five directors are stepping down - two executive directors and three non-executive. Paddy Power boss Patrick Kennedy is up for election. Shane Ross calls this the 'Continuity Bank of Ireland'.
Bank of Ireland's shares peaked at €18. Today they stand at 13 cent a share.
