A round-up of today's stories in brief.
PwC calls for gift tax limit to be raised
Too many people are caught by inheritance and gift tax because the tax-free thresholds have not kept pace with property inflation, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Tim O'Rahilly, tax director, PwC, called on the Government to increase the thresholds.
"When first introduced in 1976, gift and inheritance tax only concerned the super rich. Since then, increases in the tax-free thresholds have failed to keep pace with the rising level of wealth in the country," said Mr O'Rahilly.
"When it was introduced, a person could transfer the equivalent of 13 times the price of an average Dublin house to each of their children without breaching the threshold. This year, the child tax-free threshold barely rises above the average Irish house price."
Friends First offers currency product
A new bond linked to the performance of an actively managed currency fund has been launched by Friends First. The protected insight currency bond is open to investors who invest a minimum of €30,000 over a five-year term.
The bond will be managed by Alder Capital, a Dublin-based fund management company. The bond invests in zero coupon bonds, cash and a currency trading account.
The currency part of the bond is managed according to Alder's investment strategy, which generates returns by following trends in three currency pairs: the euro versus the US dollar, the euro versus the yen and the US dollar versus the yen.
The bond is available with a 100 per cent or a 90 per cent capital guarantee. A performance fee of 25 per cent of growth is taken if the returns cross a certain threshold.
Women 'lacking in pension cover'
Only one in five of New Ireland's personal pension customers are women, according to the Bank of Ireland life assurance subsidiary.
The average male customer is saving €720 a year more than their female counterparts into a personal pension plan, New Ireland said. Personal pensions are aimed predominantly at self-employed people.
At retirement, the projected fund for New Ireland's male customers is likely to be on average almost €30,000 higher than for its female customers.
James Skehan, head of pensions sales at New Ireland, pointed out that as women have a longer life expectancy than men, they need to save more to fund their retirement.
Fund in emerging markets launched
Online bank RaboDirect has launched a fund that invests in countries such as China, South Korea, Russia and Brazil. The emerging markets equities fund, managed by investment firm Robeco, has an entry and exit fee of 0.75 per cent and a low minimum investment requirement of €100.
RaboDirect offers a range of execution only, ie no advice offered, funds from Robeco and Merrill Lynch.
"This fund focuses on large companies, combining solid growth prospects and reasonable valuation," said the bank's general manager in Ireland, Greg McAweeney.
