Irish banking stocks fell in Dublin on Tuesday as the Bank of England ordered lenders with businesses in the UK hold additional capital to absorb losses in the event of a sudden downturn, The Irish Times reported. Sentiment towards the sector was further dented as UK prime minister Boris Johnson put the threat of a no-deal Brexit back on the table as he outlined plans to legislate to ensure the transition phase of the European Union withdrawal will not extend beyond the end of 2020.
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Debt ratings agency Moody’s has lowered its outlook on the Irish banking system to stable from positive as lenders’ profits are set to decline amid ongoing ultra-low central bank interest rates, the Irish Times reported. While Irish lenders’ levels of non-performing loans (NPLs) have come down significantly in recent years, they remain “sizeable”, it said.
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The owners of Fishshack and Ouzos restaurants will sell some of its properties as part of a rescue deal, the Irish Times reported. The chain’s owner, PBR Restaurants, sought High Court protection from its creditors in August after running into financial difficulty. PBR owed €700,000 to suppliers and other unsecured creditors. As part of a rescued deal that the court approved on Monday, the company will sell restaurants in Blackrock and Dalkey in Dublin and focus on the Fishshack business.The plan also involves a new investor providing cash for the chain.
KBC Group Ireland has set €14 million aside to cover an expected Central Bank fine for its involvement in the tracker mortgage scandal going back more than a decade, The Irish Times reported. The figure was part of a wider €18 million tracker-related provision that the Belgian-owned bank booked in the third quarter of the year, it said on Thursday. The charge drove a reduction in the bank’s net profit for the period to €4.4 million from €33.6 million for the corresponding three months in 2018. The wider KBC Group’s profit dipped to €612 million from €701 million.
A proposed personal insolvency arrangement for retired High Court taxing master James Flynn, who has debts of just over €5 million, does not meet a condition necessary for the court to consider whether or not to approve it, a High Court judge has ruled, The Irish Times reported. Mr Justice Denis McDonald was ruling on a preliminary issue concerning an application by Mr Flynn’s personal insolvency practitioner (PIP) after his insolvency arrangement failed to win the support of a majority of his creditors.
Expansion costs at part of the country’s fastest growing hospitality group, Paddy McKillen jnr’s Press Up group last year put a lid on returns, with pre-tax profits halving to €887,929, The Irish Times reported. New accounts filed by Orsen Ltd with the Companies Office show profits at this part of Press Up fell as revenues increased by 22.6 per cent from €57.86 million to €70.95 million. Press Up opened 12 new businesses across eight new sites last year.
Credit unions in the Republic may have to withdraw €1.8 billion of deposits and investments lodged with financial institutions in the UK in the event of a disorderly Brexit, it has emerged, The Irish Times reported. Fianna Fáil’s spokesman on finance, Michael McGrath, has raised concerns about the matter this week after he received a response to a parliamentary question, which clarified that credit unions will not be allowed to hold investments in institutions in a so-called third country outside the EU.
The High Court this week ruled a vulture fund could not enforce a repossession order, pending insolvency proceedings, The Sun reported. Ex-model Flood and restaurateur hubby Ronan Ryan have been locked in a long legal battle to keep the €900,000 house in Clontarf, Dublin. But after facing down the eviction threat, Pamela last night told the Irish Sun of her relief at keeping the family pad. The 48-year-old mum-of-four beamed: “It’s much better news than before. We’re better, it’s a lot better than it was.
Sean Dunne, once one of Ireland’s richest men, told an American court last week that he earns just €200 a month and is therefore unable to pay a sanction of $9,330 (€8,500) imposed on him earlier this year, The Irish Times reported. “As I am now bankrupt, I have great difficulty in obtaining work,” said the one-time Irish property tycoon in a sworn affidavit dated October 3rd.
Irish lender AIB Group Plc added its name to a growing list of borrowers shunning English law for their riskiest bank bonds in preparation for life after Brexit, Bloomberg News reported. The state-owned bank used Irish law for a sale of contingent convertible bonds on Wednesday that are set to replace its existing English-law governed notes. The move reflects a wider trend among European banks. Only 14% of euro-denominated CoCo paper sold by European lenders this year is governed by English law, down from more than 40% before 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.