LABOUR WILL HELP THOSE STILL IN GRIP OF RECESSION, SAYS BURTON - Tánaiste Joan Burton has said Labour will mount a strong fightback in 2015 against the "economic kamikaze" of Sinn Féin and the ultra left, as well as the "undue austerity" advocated by fiscal conservatives.
The Labour Party leader has promised to roll out a new agenda in the coming months that will target that section of the population which has not felt the benefits of economic recovery. While arguing that the economy has recovered strongly, Ms Burton has acknowledged many families and individuals are still struggling from the impact of the crash. "My focus will principally be on those who have had to endure stagnant incomes over a prolonged period and haven't seen recovery in their own lives." In an opinion article for The Irish Times, Ms Burton has launched a searing attack on the Government's political opponents, on the left and the right. She has contended the economic revival is real and that the economy grew at a "thumping rate" in 2014. Furthermore, Labour's involvement in the Coalition, she has argued, has meant households on social welfare and in lower-income groups were protected from austerity hawks. In a harsh criticism of Opposition parties, she said the changes during 2014 have been "utterly different to the doomsday predictions that suggested the sky was about to fall". "Among the horrors forecast were runaway inflation, a deathly debt spiral, double- dip or even triple-dip recessions, and a collapse of international investment. All these prophecies were wrong," said Ms Burton.
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AIB OUTSOURCES HUNDREDS OF BANK ROLES TO NOONAN GROUP - Bailed-out lender AIB is understood to have outsourced 200 support roles, including bank porter jobs, to the Noonan Group. It is understood the affected staff were offered the option of voluntary redundancy under the bank's existing job cuts programme or of moving with the work to the new employer, says the Irish Independent. AIB's standard redundancy deal includes three weeks' pay per year of service plus two weeks' statutory pay (capped at €600 a week). Additional re-training grants are also available. The bank declined to comment on the specifics of the deal. A spokeswoman for AIB said outsourcing is part of the bank's strategy to reduce costs. "AIB has always adopted a partnership approach with its employees and their representatives when managing change. Any outsourcing is conducted in full consultation with the relevant unions and arrangements do not involve compulsory redundancies. Outsourcing has been a necessary part of AIB's overall strategy to reduce costs. AIB does not disclose details of any individual or collective contracts on commercial confidentiality grounds.'' Noonan group is Ireland's biggest outsourced services provider. It has more than 13,500 employees, and provides cleaning, maintenance and other services in Ireland and Britain.
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McGUINNESS WINDS UP U2 COMPANY - Paul McGuinness has moved to liquidate his music management firm with the voluntary winding-up process expected to produce a cash pile of over €1.1m. In November 2013, McGuinness confirmed that he was stepping down as manager of U2 after more than 30 years, when announcing the sale of his Dublin-based Principle Management to international music giant, Live Nation, says the Irish Examiner. The sale of Principle Management to Live Nation was part of a reported $30m (€24.9m) deal that also included Live Nation purchasing Madonna's entertainment company, Maverick. Mr McGuinness remained on as chair of Principle Management, with Guy Oseary taking over U2's day-to-day management. However, new documents lodged with the Companies Office show that McGuinness has formally moved - along with fellow director Trevor Bowen - to wind up the firm. The firm - now known as Evergreen Ventures Ltd - was loss-making for the fourth year in a row in fiscal 2013, with figures showing that accumulated profits deceased sharply by €1.9m. However, the seven-page Declaration of Solvency returned to the Companies Office and signed off by Mr McGuinness and Mr Bowen, shows that the firm had €903,861 in the bank on the date of the voluntary wind-up. The firm also had €75,501 in marketable securities and was owed €223,961 in VAT.
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UK FINANCIAL WATCHDOG DOUBLES INTERVENTIONS - The UK’s financial watchdog more than doubled the number of times it stepped in to alter company practices in 2014, making good on its pledge to be a more interventionist regulator by forcing businesses to change their models, products and marketing. The Financial Conduct Authority made 31 so-called early interventions - which are conducted without a lengthy official investigation - in 2014, compared with 14 in 2013, according to its own statistics. The FCA has the power to make companies comply, or risk having their business lines closed down or their entire regulatory licence revoked, says the Financial Times. The interventions are normally private but examples last year have targeted the UK’s payday loan sector, which has been under increasing public and political scrutiny. Cheque Centre, a lender, exited the single-instalment payday loan market and had to pledge to improve how it treated customers. Moneysupermarket.com, which compares financial products, agreed to stop advertisements that the FCA felt pushed misleading statistics. Twelve of the 31 early interventions last year related to financial-crime issues such as money-laundering, the FCA said. “The early-intervention power is probably the most significant addition to the regulator’s armoury and it was provided on the explicit basis that the FCA would be a more intrusive and judgment-led regulator,” said David Scott, a partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the law firm. “It’s interesting to note that the majority of usage has been through private means, as more public usage would have sent a louder message about the FCA’s new approach to regulation.”
