NIB LOSSES WIDENED IN FIRST HALF - National Irish Bank, which is owned by Danske Bank, has reported a pre-tax loss of €400m for the first half of 2011, compared with a loss of €341m in the same period last year.
NIB set aside €420m for bad loans, compared with €367m a year earlier. Excluding loan impairment charges, operating profits were down 22% to €20m. Deposits at the bank rose by more than 20% to €5.1 billion, while total loans were 9% lower.
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CONSUMERS STILL NERVOUS ABOUT SPENDING - Nationwide UK Ireland, which operates a deposits bank, and the ESRI look at the savings culture here on a monthly basis.
Nationwide UK's managing director for Ireland Brendan Synnott said the latest report showed that people continued to be nervous about any type of spending or speculative investment. He said people with spare cash where either paying down debt or saving.
For people opening accounts in other currencies, Mr Synnott warned that there were risks and costs associated with foreign exchange markets. He said there were costs of between 0.5% and 1% in changing money on the way out and on the way back, while there was also the risk of losing value through currency movements.
Mr Synnott said he could not see any change soon, adding that we were so far from a consumer spending recovery that it was 'scary'.
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CURRENCIES - The euro is worth $1.4240 and 87.17p sterling.
