Business News

Britain has delayed by around six months its plans to introduce a range of post-Brexit border checks on goods imported from the European Union, saying it had listened to businesses which needed more time to prepare. The immediate introduction of checks and paperwork on goods exported from Britain into Europe has delayed the arrivals of…

The European Central Bank has left its key interest rates unchanged after today’s Governing Council meeting. However, the ECB has said it expects to buy bonds under its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) “…at a significantly higher pace than during the first months of this year.” The size of the PEPP at €1.85 trillion remains…

Almost two thirds of chief executives here believe that their companies will end up paying more tax as a result of policy changes to address rising debt levels arising from the pandemic. It’s one of the findings in PwC’s latest Irish and Global CEO survey. The company canvassed the views of over 5,000 company CEOs…

Applications for the €60m Small Business Assistance Scheme for Covid-19 have opened today.  The SBASC scheme is in addition to the package the Government has put in place to help businesses and workers during the pandemic. These other supports include the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS), the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), the Covid Restrictions Support…

A third of the world’s biggest banks still have no board members with professional technology experience, skills needed to help lenders make better decisions as they increase investments on IT, a new study by consultancy Accenture showed today.  Accenture analysed almost 2,000 directors at more than 100 large banks. It found that only 10% of…

Ireland continues to have the highest mortgage interest rates across the euro area in January, new figures from the Central Bank show.  The Central Bank said the average interest rate on new mortgages in Ireland stood at 2.79% in January, down 13 basis points on the same time last year. This compares to the euro…

71% of consumers say they will not feel comfortable shopping on their local high street until the Covid crisis is better controlled, according to a new survey. The research published by .IE, the company that manages Ireland’s country domain .ie, in partnership with Digital Business Ireland, shows that 23% will not feel comfortable until Covid-19 cases are…

The Financial Services Union is calling on the Government to convene a forum for what it calls an’ open and transparent’ public debate on the future of banking and financial services on the island. The FSU represents around 15,000 workers in the financial services sector in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK. It…

The Economic and Social Research Institute has revised downwards its forecast for growth in the economy this year.  In an opening statement to the Oireachtas Committee on Budgetary Oversight, Karina Doorley and Kieran McQuinn say their assumptions about restrictions this year made in their last published Commentary in December, had not factored in a level…

Members of the US Congress are to receive a briefing today on the latest Brexit developments from Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney and European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič. The ‘Friends of Ireland’ caucus, a bipartisan group on Capitol Hill, will receive the briefing amid concerns in Washington over last week’s decision by the UK government…