REPAYMENTS TO PTSB CUSTOMERS OFFSET AGAINST LOANS - Some mortgage customers of State-owned Permanent TSB have been informed that the majority of the money they are owed from the bank’s failure to offer them a cheap tracker rate over the past decade is being applied to paying off their loan arrears.
This is part of the financial redress scheme that PTSB put in place recently relating to its “failure” to offer a tracker interest rate for some 1,370 mortgage account holders who came off fixed rates from 2006 onwards, says the Irish Times. The Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation (IMHO) has become aware of about 35 cases of PTSB home loan customers who are in arrears and have been told that most of the interest they overpaid in recent years is going to be put against the warehoused portion of their split mortgage. This has created anger among the PTSB customers, and the IMHO plans to challenge the bank on this controversial policy. “The IMHO will be writing to PTSB to formally request that this policy of withholding overcharged interest is reversed immediately,” said Stephen Curtis of the organisation. “This affects many clients and is a serious matter that needs to be dealt with to allow borrowers access to a full return of what they have been overcharged.”
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EX-EIRCOM BOSS SHARED BULK OF €10m LAST YEAR AFTER IPO WAS DITCHED - Former Eircom boss Herb Hribar is believed to have received the bulk of a €9.8m payment made by the telco last year as compensation for loss of office. Mr Hribar quit the company in September last year after Eircom pulled a planned €3 billion-plus stock market flotation, writes the Irish Independent. That flotation could have seen him and other senior executives including then chief financial officer Richard Moat reportedly split as much as €60m in bonuses. Mr Moat was appointed chief executive after Mr Hribar's departure. Details of the compensation paid were revealed in Eircom's annual bondholder report published yesterday. It also showed that Eircom paid €14m during its last financial year in fees connected with its strategic review, which included plotting the possible stock market flotation. A spokesman said the company could not elaborate on the payouts made to Mr Hribar and other executives due to confidentiality agreements. The total loss of compensation figure included an €8m payment made for acquiring vested shares in a vehicle used for a management incentive plan which holds shares in Eircom's main holding company.
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JD WETHERSPOON PREPARES FOR CORK OPENING - UK pub operator JD Wetherspoon will open its newest pub and first Irish venture outside the capital in Cork next week following a €3.65m investment. The Linen Weaver pub will open its doors next Tuesday on the premises of the former Newport Bar in the city centre’s Paul Street Plaza, with the creation of 75 new jobs. The pub will be spaced out over three floors with a rooftop terrace beer garden and two bars, says the Irish Examiner. The Linen Weaver will specialise in real ales, as well as craft and world beers, serving a wide range of different draught ales as well as bottled beers, including those from local and regional brewers, a spokesperson said. Some Cork favourites, such as Murphy’s stout won’t be on offer, however, after Wetherspoon removed all Heineken products from its pubs last year. It subsequently resolved its dispute with Heineken in a deal that saw it reinstate the products in its UK stores but not in its Irish outlets. The UK chain already operates a number of pubs in Dublin and has plans to expand further across the country.
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ETSY UNDER FIRE OVER IRISH TAX PRACTICES - Etsy, the online crafts marketplace, has come under pressure from an American tax group over its Irish tax practices, joining the ranks of US tech companies accused of tax avoidance. The issue stands as an early test of Etsy’s commitment to its certification as a “B Corp”, which hinges on criteria including social and environmental impact, and whether this certification is compatible with its obligations to return shareholder value. The Brooklyn-based company went public in April, becoming the most high-profile public company that also had B Corp status, writes the Financial Times. In its prospectus Etsy emphasised its values and described a culture that included employees delivering cafeteria compost by bicycle to a local farm. B Corp certificates are awarded by a non-profit organisation to companies that meet certain standards of social impact, accountability and transparency. Etsy warned in its prospectus that its business could be adversely impacted if it lost its B Corp certification. However the company’s values have come under fire after Americans for Tax Fairness, a policy group backed by foundations and unions, published a letter Tuesday morning accusing the company of tax avoidance practices. “Etsy’s tax dodge is standard operating procedure among our country’s giant multinational corporations. We hope it will not be acceptable as a B Corp standard,” said the letter. The tax structure in question is Etsy’s transfer of some intellectual property assets to its Irish subsidiary, part of a broader tax reorganisation made in January.
