The banks have yet to act on a key recommendation of the government’s expert group on mortgage arrears four months after promising to comply and despite receiving millions in public money to bail them out, according to The Sunday Times.
European Central Bank (ECB) interest rate hikes could cost Irish homeowners €450m this year and another €1.9 billion on top in 2012, an expert on banking relationships told The Sunday Business Post.
Following last week’s ruling in Europe that insurers could no longer discriminate based on gender, at least one insurance broker believes there is no basis for women drivers to pay less than men. The judgment in the European Court caused a furore and women can expect their premiums to soar when it is enacted in less than two years’ time.
The Sunday Business Post provides a detailed summary of the best savings options available in the market. The piece notes the Fine Gael pledge to increase tax on interest earned on savings (DIRT) from the current 27% to 30% “to encourage higher levels of household expenditure”. However, the increased economic uncertainty still means plenty of incentives to save for those inevitable rainy days ahead.
So, what’s on offer?
Irish incomes have now fallen to an estimated 8% below the EU average, wiping out any gains over the past decade or more, according to The Sunday Business Post, quoting a new report.
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, along come those pesky would-be democrats in the Arab world and send the price of oil spiralling. Still, it’s an ill wind as usual and the crises throughout the Middle East and North Africa will likely keep an awful lot of pundits in business for an awfully long time.
AIB is planning to set up a standalone savings business based around the €5.2 billion domestic deposit book it took over from Anglo Irish Bank last week, The Sunday Times reports.
Divorce has always had the potential to be seriously damaging to financial health but now wealthy individuals will be unable to replenish their pension pots because of “the Revenue’s rigid interpretation of new pension limits provisions”, according to The Sunday Times.
Women face higher insurance premiums if, as expected, the European Court of Justice opts to ban gender discrimination when assessing policy risk, both The Sunday Business Post and The Sunday Times report.
Ireland has the dubious distinction of being the only country of 19 in a report commissioned by Credit Suisse where investors would have been better off leaving money on deposit over the past decade rather than investing in bonds or equities.
In yet another sign of the times, Ulster Bank will wind down its wealth-management division, putting new clients into its financial planning business, according to The Sunday Times.
The 450 wealthiest people in Ireland paid on average about €750,500 each in tax last year – about a twentieth of the €14m tax bill paid by Michael O’Leary in the Celtic Tiger days of 2003, The Sunday Independent reports.
In 2007, the Revenue unit that monitors the tax affairs of the super-rich collected €544m in taxes. Last year, the total almost halved to €337.7m.
Permanent TSB may re-introduce fixed rate mortgages but at rates as high as 7%, effectively pricing itself out of the market, The Sunday Times reports.