ZURICH Insurance has emerged as the front-runner to buy Quinn Insurance out of administration as a joint offer by Anglo Irish Bank and Liberty Mutual faces significantly regulatory hurdles, the Sunday Tribune has learned.

It is understood the administrators and their banking adviser Macquarie have narrowed the field of bidders ... more

Former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Sean FitzPatrick dismissed shareholder concerns about his move up from chief executive in 2005 as "interfering in his share option schemes", according to the Irish Association of Investment Managers (IAIM).

Institutional investors pressed FitzPatrick at the time to appoint an independent vice chairman to improve ... more

One of the government's chief commitments to the International Monetary Fund and our European partners – which are providing us with our €85bn rescue package – is an undertaking to shrink the banking sector so that it no longer presents a threat to the financial stability of the state.

According to ... more

More than eight weeks after agreeing to a €67.5bn bailout, there is still compelling evidence from the international markets that Ireland and other stressed eurozone states will still be in crisis by the time international aid runs out.

Eurozone finance ministers meet tomorrow to discuss ways to strengthen the ... more

Ireland will enter a new, deeper recession as a result of the austerity demanded by the EU/IMF bailout, according to Matt King, Citigroup's global head of credit strategy.

King told the Sunday Tribune that the magnitude of losses in the economy had not yet been fully realised and ... more

THE six banks covered by the government guarantee still had more than €10bn of outstanding subordinated debt at the beginning of January.

The figure includes junior debt issued by AIB, which last week began a voluntary offer to buy back €4.1bn of its €4.77bn of outstanding subordinated bonds ... more

About 14 developers have already agreed debt forgiveness packages with Nama. The Sunday Tribune revealed last week that Nama will allow some developers to walk away from part of their debt if they have achieved a certain price for their assets, unwound transfers and co-operated with the institution during the ... more

Dunnes Stores made an after-tax profit of nearly €7.8m in the financial year ended 31 January 2010 from its operations in Spain, food manufacturing, and property holdings, according to just-filed accounts.

Profits were down a third on the previous year while the dividend paid to Margaret Heffernan and Frank ... more

Developer Sean Dunne, who has moved with his family to Connecticut in the United States, will discover this Friday if his plan to redevelop the front of AIB Bankcentre in Dublin 4 can go ahead. An Bord Pleanála is due to rule on Dunne's application to demolish the ... more

When Bank of Ireland completed a successful rights issue last summer as part of a €2.9bn capital raising exercise to meet new minimum levels introduced by the Central Bank in March, the institution was held up as a showcase bank for Ireland's recovery.

In a swift series of ... more

The nation may have a collective case of banking fatigue – and who could blame us? – but there are several issues that so far have not been investigated and are in need of scrutiny.

One of these issues is how the financial institutions tried to pull the wool over the eyes ... more

The modern banking system – the essential enabler of saving, investment, payment and exchange which provides the crucial blood flow of credit through the body of the modern economy – is a magnificent illusion.

Politicians and commentators who debate banking and slip into pronouncements about "moral hazard" or "burning bond-holders" rarely seem ... more

The economy needs help, no one disputes that. The disagreements start when looking at what kind and how much help is required. The choices are stark, the medicine will be difficult to swallow, but the Celtic Tiger will be back after a short period of recuperation if the government and ... more

Q4 bags Irish Rail contract

Well done to Q4, the public relations agency set up by former Fianna Fail advisers Jackie Gallagher and Martin Mackin. The company has just bagged a contract to provide PR advice to Irish Rail.

The contract, thought to be worth six figures, was awarded after ... more

Not all developers should be tarred with the same brush. Some behaved like kids in a sweetshop when granny was paying, but others took a responsible attitude. So developers need to be separated into different categories. Such a differentiation became apparent to me in 2003 when I had conversations with ... more

Pat Butler joins UK insurance group Resolution as partner

RESOLUTION, the UK insurance group founded by Clive Cowdery, has appointed Irishman Pat Butler to a senior role.

Butler is joining Resolution as a partner and will be responsible for overseeing restructuring and acquisitions for the London-quoted company. Cowdery, one of ... more

One of my friends got out of banking a few months before the credit crunch, disillusioned by the empire-building and lack of talent he witnessed every day. As he put it: "Look at the points for commerce in Irish universities. Most of the people who go into banking aren't ... more

FÁS plans to spend hundreds of thousands of euro on a new public relations campaign.

The state training agency, which was last year mired in controversy over an expenses scandal, has begun the search for a "communications service provider".

In a tender document published on the government's procurement ... more

New Ireland Assurance, Bank of Ireland's insurance business, is unlikely to be sold until 2012, according to sources familiar with the process.

The later timeframe for the disposal means any equity gained from the sale will not help Bank of Ireland meet the Central Bank's minimum capital target ... more

Derek Quinlan and Paddy McKillen's Maybourne Hotel Group, which owns luxury London hotels including Claridge's, has been given a two-year debt extension by Nama, according to a report in Property Week. The group has a £660m debt pile that it has been trying to refinance.

The magazine said ... more

The owners of Tullamore-based Condron Concrete – which paid an €8.1 tax settlement with the Revenue Commissioners in 2008 after an underdeclaration of PAYE, PRSI and corporation tax – took €55m out of the company's cash reserves that same year, converting it "to their own benefit", according to a Labour ... more

The economic crisis presents a good opportunity for radical pension reform in Ireland, according to Australia's minister in charge of retirement funds.

Senator Nick Sherry, who has been central to Australia's 20-year development of a nationwide mandatory pension scheme, said appetite to fix a pension system was greatest ... more

The British government is currently debating whether to increase the qualifying period for unfair dismissal from one to two years, believing the measure will improve flexibility and encourage small and medium enterprises to create jobs. The proposed measure is part of their government's "new economic dynamism".

But will it ... more

Central Bank figures published on Friday showing the amount of emergency liquidity assistance it has given to the banks provides a insight into Irish banks' insolvency.

By the end of last month, the amount in emergency assistance it provided the banks rose to €51bn. That's up from €44.6bn ... more

Associated British Foods, the owner of the Dublin-based fashion chain Penneys, will publish a trading statement this week. Penneys, or Primark as it trades in the UK and on the continent, has become the main driver of ABF's growth in recent years. Primark has been a big winner on ... more