BANK OF IRELAND REPOSSESSES 621 PROPERTIES IN FIRST HALF OF YEAR - Bank of Ireland repossessed 621 owner-occupied or buy-to-let properties in the first half of this year.
This is according to documents submitted to the Oireachtas finance committee in advance of the appearance by its chief executive Richie Boucher today.
Bank of Ireland has told the committee that 322 judgments were enforced against owner-occupiers, with 299 on buy-to-let investments. This means that the property was either in the bank’s possession or had been sold. In the first six months of this year, the bank had sold 80 properties that it had repossessed, writes the Irish Times. Data provided to the committee shows that 85 properties were repossessed in 2010, rising to 166 the following year, 180 in 2012 and 214 for last year. Between 2010 and last year, Bank of Ireland disposed of 383 of these properties. Figures for the period to June 2014 show the bank had issued 1,406 solicitor letters to owner occupiers demanding possession of a property and 514 to owners of buy-to-lets. At the end of June, there were 105 unexecuted possession orders held by Bank of Ireland against owner-occupied properties and 73 relating to buy-to-lets.
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REPORT URGES IRISH EXPORTERS TO LOOK EAST FOR NEW MARKETS - Ireland's major trade partners in Asia are expected to increase their demand for imports, representing a huge opportunity for exporters. A new report written by economist, Sunday Independent columnist and Newstalk broadcaster Marc Coleman considers 16 Asian countries that together receive just 6% of Irish exports - leaving significant room for expansion. Mr Coleman told the Irish Independent that the opportunities Asian trade presents to Ireland are "absolutely staggering". "Demographically we're only doing 6% of our trade with an area of the world that has three billion people in it. Think about that for a minute. Most of our trade is done with the western half of the planet, which means we're only scratching the surface of potential." Mr Coleman says Irish companies also have an "e-commerce opportunity." "Asians are basically bypassing the landline technology that we grew up with, and they're going straight into the world of e-commerce, online buying, with very, very high and rising rates of mobile phone usage and internet usage," he said. "The third aspect of this opportunity is urbanisation. Hundreds of millions of Asians in Indonesia, China, India, are going to be migrating from rural to urban areas," he added.
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IRISH LIFE STAFF VOTE TO ACCEPT PAY HIKE DEAL - Almost 1,000 workers in Irish Life have voted overwhelmingly to accept a Labour Court recommendation which will result in some of them getting a pay increase of as much as 7%. At the beginning of this year, almost 94% of the workers, members of the Unite trade union, voted for industrial action following what the union described as a unilateral decision by the company to freeze pay and increments for 2014. However, talks were initiated between the two sides, yielding the recommendation from the Labour Court, says the Irish Examiner. According to Unite, when increments are factored in, that will see the pay of members increase by a minimum of 2%. It said lower-paid clerical staff will receive increases of up to 7%. “In addition members will be compensated for the abolition of a long-standing profit-sharing scheme through a once-off lump sum payment of €1,500,” a spokeswoman said.
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ROLLS-ROYCE TO SHED 2,600 JOBS - John Rishton, chief executive of Rolls-Royce, sought to show he had a firm grip on the struggling FTSE 100 engineer as he unveiled the company’s biggest job reduction programme in six years. Analysts welcomed initiatives that would reduce the group’s 55,000 workforce by 2,600 and bring down annual costs by £80m when fully implemented. However some raised concerns about the ability of the UK’s flagship industrial company to innovate in future if the cuts hit its engineering capability, writes the Financial Times. “This implies they are firing engineers. That is surprising to me,” said Christian Laughlin of Bernstein Research. Mr Rishton insisted the reduction would not hit the group’s ability to compete against its bigger rivals, such as General Electric. “The measures announced today will contribute towards Rolls-Royce becoming a stronger and more profitable company,” he said. “We will work to achieve the necessary reductions on a voluntary basis where possible, while making sure we retain the skills needed for the future.” A large engineering team had been required for the development phase of the Trent 1000 and Trent XWB engines, the group said, but with the development phase complete, the need for engineers was reduced.
