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I was looking a few days ago & I am open to correct but it seems like Anglo offering the best Savings A/c Rates. Interesting to see they offer both sterling & US dollar savings accounts - is that an indication of shady practice?Quote:
Originally Posted by OneRedArmy
Given what we know now seems fairly clear Anglo would have collapsed if no state guarantee. Would have queues outside the bank when recent scandals emerged.
Offering Sterling and Dollar deposits is kosher. Offering the best rates in the Market when you're a semi-state is unfair and anti-competitive.
Anglo should have it's banking license taken away and be shut to new business immediately.
To be fair, they were offering the best interest rates on the market long before they were nationalised, 6% several months ago when BOI and AIB were offering 3-4%, and the "newcomers" were offering 4-5.5%. If they changed their rates now, they could be accused of playing games too. They're probably better off with the status quo, if they can handle it of course.
EDIT: The rates are higher now on itsyourmoney.ie, but I'm pretty sure what I've quoted above is correct. Either way, I am certain Anglo had the best rate going back 4-6 months.
adam
Adam the same reason that had them offering the highest interest rates was exactly the reason they were nationalised, a chronic lack of ready cash (liquidity). They had such high rates as they needed the cash quickly.
They shouldn't be allowed to accept another cent in deposits or write another euro of loans. They are an anchor dragging down a banking sector that already had enough holes in it.
How do you ration that? You can set up these with the AIB and BOI and probably the other banks too.Quote:
Originally Posted by pete
By holding deposits in foreign currencies you reduce interest rate and foreign exchange risk on your foreign denominated loans.
Standard banking practice globally.
I don't agree ORA, the few savings accounts they get are going to make feck all difference. I think there should be a full, immediate investigation. Due process. Not a tribunal that last years of course, but a fast criminal investigation by the Gardaí and the Revenue. I think the Gardaí have already been in there?
adam
The complete mismanagement of the EU waste storage scheme for farmers was another disaster for the area I work in. Work in a family run business, we supply primarily agricultural buildings. There seems to have been no one keeping a count on the amount of people who applied for and went ahead under the grant aid scheme for these buildings, no money to pay the grants, people paying huge interest on bridging loans. Now some are getting 40% of the total and the promise of more in the future..
It has tied up the sector now as the farmers havent the cash to spend on jobs that would normally be done this time of year such as roofing in between buildings etc, extra pieces added to existing buildings and whatnot.
In what im sure is a simplistic view to those more in the know that this bogger surely the 300m required to cover the outstanding payments could have been taken from the 7bn bailout. It would all have been going back to the banks anyway and wiping out the loans currently out to the farming community..
And before anyone starts with the "farmers this , farmers that" trust me I know where yere coming from but thats a debate for another day!
When I see see farmers mentioned all I can think of is compliants about less hand outs. I know its a prejudice but I would guess many people think the same way.Quote:
Originally Posted by RonnieB
So Tax increases will be on the way sooner or later. What taxes do people feel with changed?
VAT - Can't increase that as already high
PAYE - Few percent on the top rate?
Property - Historically not popular. Would this slow the recovery of residential property? If exempt values below a certain amount would it bring in enough to be worth while? Would inevitably have pensioners complaining as they have small pension but living in valuable house.
Excise - Alcohol, Fuel, Tobacco. Would it bring in that much?
VRT - With retail car industry collapsing could not increase.
Corporation tax - Hard to touch as big selling point to attract foreign investment.
Should be on Pay, and scrap the Income Levy whilst they are at it (and add it back into the tax brakets).
Close loopholes and get strict on the tax exiles.
Have a minimum tax payment for those using avoidance measures to pay nothing.
Property taxes are inevitably regressive, but at least in most countries any such tax includes services such as bin collection, and other budgets that are in the control of councillors. Arguably the biggest unelected quango squandering billions are the county managers who are virtually untouchable.
They'll probably reduce stamp duty and VAT on new houses along with a property tax with the aim of bailing out developers, I mean to "get the market moving".
Property Tax/ Stamp Duty reduction would be yet another hit on the people stuck with massive mortgages and negative equity. Could be a tipping point for a lot of people.
I don't disagree with that but FF won;t do that. Easier to have a 1% levy than say 3% hike in top rate of tax as it doesn't look as bad.Quote:
Originally Posted by Macy
FF policy seems to be a wait & see approach. i.e. wait til the actually see tax revenues reduced rather than anticpate.
Wait and see who we can pass the buck to more like - in this case the Taxation Commission. They'd rather the IMF come in than actually formulate a plan themselves, either that or the National Government their stooges in the press keep floating so then it can be the blue shirts fault.Quote:
Originally Posted by pete
I can't think why any one would suggest a National government as they might as well close the Dail. Now that I think fo it...
Listening to Noel Dempsey's Cromwell rant if you didn't know the history you'd assume FF had just come into power.
Disappointing that the media haven't highlighted the absolute hypocrisy of FF lecturing anyone on morality and greed.
You've got to hand it to them, at this stage they clearly believe they are infallible.
Mitchelstown Credit Union
Even Credit Unions not immune to Financial problems. However bad the banking regulation has turned out to be I wouldn't be too confident all the Credit Unions squakey clean.Quote:
The Mitchelstown Credit Union in Co Cork, one of the largest in the State, has been instructed to cease lending to businesses as its financial stability is under threat.
The instruction to stop lending to businesses came from the Financial Regulator's Registrar of Credit Unions, Brendan Logue, who wrote to the Michelstown Credit Union recently to raise concerns about its performance which "threaten the financial stability of the credit union".
According to a letter from February 17th, excerpts of which were published in today’s Irish Examiner , Mr Logue said: “A run on members savings took place last year and it is clear that the credit union would have difficulty surviving a repeat of this.”
The Financial Regulator goes after the small fry. Independent Insurance Brokers and Credit Unions are the only ones they've ever "clamped down on", but the banks were all fine and dandy. :rolleyes:
I would think most Credit Unions are fine, as loans are based on shares held. I think I heard on Newstalk at lunch a bloke from the Irish League of Credit Unions that credit unions in Ireland have a 2:1 loan ratio i.e. for every €50 out on loan they have a €100 in shares, including Mitchelstown at their last spot check. And wasn't there some confusion to what extent Credit Unions were covered (or not) when the Government were doing the stupid Bank Guarantee which could've provoked the run? I trust the board of my credit union, who I elect, more than the bloody bankers anyway.
Mind you, the cynic in me would suggest this is another stroke. Sow the seeds that Credit Unions aren't safe and provoke a run on them, and people are frightened into moving their money into banks, who just happen to be desperate for capital.
Irish Life & Permanent Results
I don't think those apologies mean much when the Board initially rejected the attempt by CEO to resign.Quote:
Irish Life & Permanent (ILP) chairwoman Gillian Bowler has apologised “unreservedly” for the movement of over €7 billion in deposits between the lender and Anglo Irish Bank last year.
Speaking as ILP reported a larger-than-expected 42 per cent drop in full-year operating profit this morning of €341 million for 2008, Ms Bowler said the ILP board had not known about the provision of short-tem loans of €7.5 billion to Anglo Irish to bolster Anglo Irish’s books at its year-end last September.
“The transactions were wrong. The Board did not approve them . . . didn’t know about them and [the Board] certainly would not have committed had we known about them,” Ms Bowler said on RTE’s Morning Ireland programme.
I suppose when the face of your company adverts is a gangster character... :p
Latest Public Finance Figures
I hope the Dept of Finance have a hot line to the IMF. Our country is like someone with a wallet full of maxed out credit cards.Quote:
The exchequer figures portray a devastating decline in State receipts, with annual takings set to be up to €12 billion less than calculated in the Budget. New taxation methods are the answer
Tax receipts in the January-February period were just under €5.8 billion. This compares with €7.6 billion in the same period of last year, a decline of 24 per cent.
Typically, the first two months account for about one-sixth of receipts for the full year. On this basis, tax revenue for 2009 might amount to €35 billion. That would be €2 billion short of the Government’s revised projection of early January, the projection upon which the revised official target of a budget deficit of €17 billion (9.5 per cent of gross domestic product or GDP) for the year was based.
The IMF will be hitting the Eastern European countries first. They all have their own currencies. It'll be a while longer before they are called to the Eurozone, if it gets that far. We've had recessions before in this country, the IMF wasn't called in last time despite how severe it was. It is last resort territory, and broke as we are, we're not at IMF stage yet.
We're still in a position to revive our own economy, if it's handled correctly. Further increased taxes are not the way to go about it. More tax = job cuts = less money = less revenue in a wheel.
The Japanese government have come up with a unique spending programme whereby everyone is given $200 to spend as they wish, in order to get the economy going again. It's better than anything I've seen from our government yet.
I would normally agree with due to the scale of the problem it can't be avoided. It is important that government spending is cut alone side the taxes. The state should also start selling the family silver (i.e. state assets.) so it has money to spend on core role like education, police etc...Quote:
Originally Posted by mypost
In the old days we had a smaller government & could devalue our own currency.
The current government isn't qualified to sell lighters in Henry Street, never mind state assets. Look at the hash they made of Eircom ffs, can you imagine what we'd end up with if they sold off the ESB?!
The current governement needs to stand aside and let Fine Gael and Labour clean up after them. Again.
adam