ULSTER BANK PUTS IT UP TO RIVALS WITH MORTGAGE CUT FOR ALL CUSTOMERS - Ulster Bank has ramped up the pressure on its rivals with a cut in its variable rates, for both new and existing customers.
The bank will also introduce a range of new fixed rates, which experts said were some of the lowest in the market, says the Irish Independent. The move comes just a week after the Central Bank announced new lending restrictions which are set to make it more difficult for first-time buyers to get a home loan. Other lenders may now be forced to cut again, as despite recent cuts, mortgage rates here are still among the highest in the 19-member eurozone. The Ulster Bank move to cut the variable rate for both new and established mortgage holders is in contrast to recent reductions from Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB and KBC Bank, which were only for new customers and switchers. AIB and EBS had reduced its rates for new and existing customers before Christmas. The reduction in the Ulster Bank standard variable rate will see it come down by 0.2% to 4.3%, a move that will save a couple with a €250,000 mortgage around €350 in the full year. This will be one of the lowest variable rates in the market. It is almost two years since Ulster Bank cut its variable rate.
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REVENUE DASHES HOPES OF AIRBNB GENERATION - Homeowners hoping to tap into a windfall of up to €12,000 by letting out rooms in their homes on Airbnb and similar sites have had their hopes dashed by Revenue. Amendments to the long-standing Rent-a Room relief clarify that short term lets to guests, "including where such accommodation is provided through online accommodation booking sites", do not fall within the terms of the relief. However, the new guidance issued by Revenue confirms that letting a room out to students during the academic year is covered under the scheme, as long as the income received falls under the threshold. The practice of letting out part of a home has increased in recent times, says the Irish Times. The Rent-a-Room scheme, introduced in 2002, allows people to receive income of up to €12,000 in any tax year without that money being liable to income tax, PRSI or the universal social charge (USC). Revenue said that short-term lets had never fallen within the scheme , which is designed for "residential purposes". However, following a number of queries on the issue, it thought it prudent to clarify the position at a time when the relief was being amended.
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AER LINGUS SALES COULD BOOST PUBLIC COFFERS: IBEC - Employers’ lobby group Ibec has said a sale of Aer Lingus could benefit the State by providing extra funds to invest in essential public infrastructure projects. While careful not to endorse a deal before more concrete terms emerge from IAG, Ibec’s director of policy and corporate affairs, Mary-Rose Burke, told the Oireachtas Transport Committee yesterday that there is a risk of looking at the issue without considering the upside potential. “With regard to Ireland’s public finances, if a formal offer does emerge in excess of €2.50 per share, this would represent more than 60 times the annual dividend paid to the Government over recent years,” she said. “It would allow for a reduction in borrowing or, preferably, for an increase in capital investment on essential public infrastructure such as land transportation.” With much of the negativity surrounding connectivity and IAG’s potential long-term plans for Aer Lingus’ Heathrow landing slots, Ms Burke suggested that, as a 25% minority shareholder, the Government already has very little control over the airline’s operational issues. Earlier, both Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland expressed concern to the committee about a potential weakening in air connectivity to and from Ireland.
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ECB'S 'HARDBALL' STANCE THREATENS TO LEAVE GREECE WITHOUT FUNDING - The European Central Bank is resisting a key element of the Greek government’s new rescue plan, potentially leaving Athens with no source of outside funding when its international bailout expires at the end of the month. Yanis Varoufakis, Greek finance minister, had proposed to European officials that Athens raise €10 billion by issuing short-term Treasury bills as “bridge financing” to tide the country over for the next three months while a new bailout is agreed with its eurozone partners. But the ECB is unwilling to approve the debt sale. It will not raise a €15 billion ceiling on t-bill issuance to $25 billion as requested by Athens, according two officials involved in the deliberations, writes the Financial Times. “The Greek plan relies fully on the ECB,” said another eurozone official briefed on the talks. “The ECB will play hardball.” Without T-bill financing, Athens will exit its bailout without access to emergency funding for the first time since the first Greek bailout began in May 2010. The ECB’s stance raises the stakes in the stand-off between the anti-austerity government in Athens and its international creditors, which if unresolved, could end with Greece running out of cash within weeks. It is also likely to puncture a sense of optimism among investors over Greece’s alternative rescue plan and a softening of its insistence on debt cancellation, which lifted the Athens stock market 11.3% on Tuesday and pared 10-year borrowing costs by nearly a full percentage point.
