Author: Practicenet

Irish shoppers willing to swap privacy for service

Retailing will change more in the next 10 years than in the past 40, according to new research from Accenture, led by digitalisation. The digital wave, could bring a cumulative $2.95 trillion (€2.5 trillion) in value to the retail industry as quickly as 2025, according to the research. And Ireland will not be immune to […]

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Irish start-up funding group wins European accolade

HBAN, the all-island group responsible for the promotion of business angel investment in Ireland, has won the best Business Angel Week award at the European Business Angel Awards. Angle investment provides capital for business start-ups, often in exchange for a share of ownership in the company. HBAN, which is a joint initiative of InterTradeIreland and […]

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A dozen London-based firms and banks to set up in Dublin – IDA

The Irish government has secured deals with more than a dozen London-based financial houses and banks which will see the firms move some of their business to Ireland, according to a report in the Guardian. The head of Ireland’s Industrial Development Authority (IDA), Kieran Donoghue, told the publication that each of the companies in question […]

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Surge in mortgage approvals looks set to fuel house price increases

The number of people approved for a mortgage surged by a third last month, driven largely by first-time buyers. And potential buyers are getting approved for higher amounts of borrowings, according to the figures from the Banking and Payments Federation. The figures imply property prices will keep rising, economists said. A total of 4,124 want-to-be […]

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There may be more jobs than workers ‘if unemployment rate continues to drop’

Minister Paschal Donohoe has warned of possible “capacity constraints” in the labour market if the unemployment numbers continue to drop at the expected rate. While the Government doesn’t expect a situation to arise where there won’t be enough workers to fill available jobs, Mr Donohoe said the scenario is something ministers would have to “reflect […]

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Loan scheme aims to bring vacant homes into use

Property owners could be offered local authority loans to bring vacant homes back into use and help tackle the housing crisis. It is understood the Government is considering implementing a local authority loan scheme to help encourage owners to sell or rent vacant properties after it emerged that up to 80,000 empty units may be […]

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Google fined ‘record’ €2.42bn for ‘unfair shopping searches’

The European Commission has fined Google €2.42bn for abusing its dominant market position by giving illegal advantage in search results to its own comparison shopping service. The fine is the biggest ever handed down by European competition authorities for so-called ant-trust or market abuse. It is the latest in a string of findings that have […]

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AIB listing provides the Irish Stock Exchange with the largest IPO in Europe in 2017

AIB’s listing on the main securities market has provided the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) with the largest IPO in Europe in 2017. AIB’s admission to a primary listing on the main securities market follows the sale of a 25pc stake in the group by the Minister for Finance, raising approximately €3bn for the State from […]

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Great recession fears as bankers warn next global crash could arrive ‘with a vengeance’

A new financial crisis is brewing in the emerging economies and it could hit “with a vengeance”, an influential group of central bankers has warned. Emerging markets such as China are showing the same signs that their economies are overheating as the US and the UK demonstrated before the financial crisis of 2007-08, according to […]

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Comment: Relaxing deposit rules just not an option, even if it means families must save up €83,000

We threw it away. Measures introduced two-and-a-half years ago by the Central Bank to curb runaway property inflation were only ever a temporary stop-gap. The aim was to control prices to buy time to enable the State to fast-track housing development in a market which is now seeing the worst supply levels in a lifetime. […]

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