Banker pay, carbon taxes and regulating vulture funds

Bank of Ireland highlighted what it says is the "competitive disadvantage" of bankers' pay restrictions with the Department of Finance when it met Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe after its recent annual results, reports the Sunday Independent. The financial sector has been increasing pressure on the Government to lift its ban on the payment of incentives, remove limits on pension and termination payments and ease the €500,000 pay cap.

An editorial in the Sunday Times concludes that while politically sensitive, the taxpayer funds at stake in both Bank of Ireland and AIB make it in "all our financial interests" that the banks are run efficiently. Politicians with an eye to more than their seats should make the case for critical staff to be made the market rate for their skills, it said.

The farming and transport sectors are among those that will face penalties if they do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions under a new "carbon budget" system, reports the Sunday Business Post. Minister for Climate Action Richard Bruton is set to give various sectors legally binding targets, which are expected to come with penalties for failure attached, it said. However, the first five-year carbon reduction plan will not be ready for this October's budget, but will cover the period 2021-2025.

About 40 "vulture funds", including companies controlled by Goldman Sachs, Cerberus Capital Management and Apollo Global Management, have rushed to seek authorisation from the Central Bank following new legislation banning unregulated entities from owning Irish mortgages, reports the Sunday Times. The vulture funds involved include Beltany Property Finance, a Goldman Sachs affiliate that triggered outrage in 2016 when it threatened to evict more than 100 families from their homes in Tyrrelstown, Co Dublin.

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Irish global payroll company Immedis has raised €25 million in a minority equity deal with London-based investment firm Scottish Equity Partners, according to the Sunday Independent.The newspaper said the investment followed huge growth for Immedis with contracts to handle global payments for the likes of Uber and Harvard University. It understands the deal values the company at €160 million – €170 million.

Glenveagh Properties is expected to pay about €9 million for eight acres of the Kilruddery estate outside Bray, Co Wicklow, which is owned by the Brabazon family, reports the Sunday Times. The housebuilder intends to build 175 homes on the site, the newspaper said. The company announced on Friday that it had acquired a site in Bray and another in Howth, north Dublin, without disclosing further details. The seven-acre Howth site is part of the 530-acre Howth Castle demesne, recently bought by Tetrarch Capital.

The Government is pressing insurers to commit to lowering premiums if personal injury payouts are reduced, reports the Sunday Business Post. Michael D’Arcy, Minister of State at the Department of Finance, met with representative body Insurance Ireland last week to discuss such a proposal, the newspaper said. The industry, meanwhile, is seeking clarity on when exactly compensation award levels will be readjusted.