THE DEPARTMENT of Finance is giving "serious consideration" to a proposal from the construction industry to launch an infrastructure bond that would help fund major capital projects. The proposal was submitted by the Construction Industry Council (CIC), which represents a wide range of parties in the construction sector here, and includes input from the Irish Association of Investment Managers (IAIM), the umbrella body for pension fund managers. It is understood that the bond could be structured in such a way that it would effectively be an off-balance sheet investment in relation to the Government's exchequer finances.
THE DEPARTMENT of Finance is giving "serious consideration" to a proposal from the construction industry to launch an infrastructure bond that would help fund major capital projects.
The proposal was submitted by the Construction Industry Council (CIC), which represents a wide range of parties in the construction sector here, and includes input from the Irish Association of Investment Managers (IAIM), the umbrella body for pension fund managers.
It is understood that the bond could be structured in such a way that it would effectively be an off-balance sheet investment in relation to the Government's exchequer finances.
The Independent has learnt that the Prime Minister will report back to the next gathering of G20 leaders in September in New York on how the IMF can be overhauled.The organisation was created in 1944 to bring stability to an international financial system shattered by the Second World War. But the Government believes it has become too much of a "commentator" on events rather than trying to shape them. It wants a new-style IMF to be able to aid countries when economic problems loom rather than acting as a port of last call when they face bankruptcy. The makeover is also aimed at removing the stigma countries feel at having to turn to the IMF for emergency help.
The Independent has learnt that the Prime Minister will report back to the next gathering of G20 leaders in September in New York on how the IMF can be overhauled.
The organisation was created in 1944 to bring stability to an international financial system shattered by the Second World War. But the Government believes it has become too much of a "commentator" on events rather than trying to shape them. It wants a new-style IMF to be able to aid countries when economic problems loom rather than acting as a port of last call when they face bankruptcy. The makeover is also aimed at removing the stigma countries feel at having to turn to the IMF for emergency help.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU countries Austria, Luxembourg and Belgium, as well as non-EU member Switzerland, have not been put on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation's (OECD) blacklist of non-co-operative financial centres. Instead, they figure on a so-called "grey" list of eight countries that "have committed to the internationally agreed tax standard, but have not yet substantially implemented" it. In addition, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Gibraltar, the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands are listed among the 30 "tax havens" that also have yet to "substantially implement" the international tax standards.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU countries Austria, Luxembourg and Belgium, as well as non-EU member Switzerland, have not been put on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation's (OECD) blacklist of non-co-operative financial centres.
Instead, they figure on a so-called "grey" list of eight countries that "have committed to the internationally agreed tax standard, but have not yet substantially implemented" it.
In addition, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Gibraltar, the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands are listed among the 30 "tax havens" that also have yet to "substantially implement" the international tax standards.
Ireland's ballooning deficit, which led Standard & Poor's to cut its prized AAA credit rating, has fed doubts about how well the euro zone is equipped to handle such strains. But the head of the European Central Bank (ECB) said the bloc was a safety net for its members. "The euro area belonging represents for any country ... a formidable help which should not be underestimated," ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said at a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Prague....Lenihan has warned that the shortfall could hit 12.75 percent of GDP for all of 2009, easily the highest in the EU, unless action is taken.
...Lenihan has warned that the shortfall could hit 12.75 percent of GDP for all of 2009, easily the highest in the EU, unless action is taken.
Demonstrators, in the hundreds of thousands, marched through the streets of Rome on Saturday in a protest organised by the CGIL, Italy's largest trade union, against Silvio Berlusconi's government's response to the economic crisis. "This is a day we will remember for a long time," said Guglielmo Epifani, general secretary of the CGIL. "There are so many of us. We represent the part of Italy that works, the pensioners, those without stable jobs." "I wish the government would pause and think about the seriousness of this crisis, I wish the government would try and do more against it," he told journalists during the protest.
Demonstrators, in the hundreds of thousands, marched through the streets of Rome on Saturday in a protest organised by the CGIL, Italy's largest trade union, against Silvio Berlusconi's government's response to the economic crisis.
"This is a day we will remember for a long time," said Guglielmo Epifani, general secretary of the CGIL. "There are so many of us. We represent the part of Italy that works, the pensioners, those without stable jobs."
"I wish the government would pause and think about the seriousness of this crisis, I wish the government would try and do more against it," he told journalists during the protest.
"This is a day we will remember for a long time," said Guglielmo Epifani, general secretary of the CGIL. "There are so many of us. We represent the part of Italy that works, the pensioners, those without stable jobs." "I wish the government would pause and think about the seriousness of this crisis, I wish the government would try and do more against it," he told journalists during the protest.
As Berlu's unofficial spokesman, I reply "Get out of here before I sic my rabid dogs on you. Stay in your place and consider yourself lucky to even HAVE a place. Filthy pigs! Now where did my prostitute get to?" (All in Italian. Sounds like opera) In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
The powerful Commons Treasury Committee says all charities should be compensated for their losses as a one-off measure and has called for new guidelines to govern their investments.But MPs said that it would be "perverse to reward" council authorities who also lost money in the collapse.Estimates suggest local authorities had £953m deposited with Icelandic banks when the crisis broke. The committee said that some councils had managed the risks better than others.They said: "Local authorities are required to take their own decisions on the level of prudent, affordable capital investment. They have a duty to the taxpayer diligently to protect the money they are investing on their behalf. Under these circumstances it would seem perverse to reward those authorities who failed to protect their investment with yet more money from the taxpayer."The Local Government Association (LGA) criticised the report, saying it was inconsistent to bail out charities but not councils. Margaret Eaton, the chairwoman of the LGA, said: "There must be a consistent and fair approach to compensation. If charities are to be compensated why should there be no relief whatsoever for the council taxpayer? Councils provide vital services to society's most vulnerable people.
The powerful Commons Treasury Committee says all charities should be compensated for their losses as a one-off measure and has called for new guidelines to govern their investments.
But MPs said that it would be "perverse to reward" council authorities who also lost money in the collapse.
Estimates suggest local authorities had £953m deposited with Icelandic banks when the crisis broke. The committee said that some councils had managed the risks better than others.
They said: "Local authorities are required to take their own decisions on the level of prudent, affordable capital investment. They have a duty to the taxpayer diligently to protect the money they are investing on their behalf. Under these circumstances it would seem perverse to reward those authorities who failed to protect their investment with yet more money from the taxpayer."
The Local Government Association (LGA) criticised the report, saying it was inconsistent to bail out charities but not councils. Margaret Eaton, the chairwoman of the LGA, said: "There must be a consistent and fair approach to compensation. If charities are to be compensated why should there be no relief whatsoever for the council taxpayer? Councils provide vital services to society's most vulnerable people.
And if someinstitutions held funds destined for vital public needs, then the way they manage that money should be much more closely regulated, even if all they did was buy the AAA tranches of CDOs. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Sir Fred Goodwin will not be making a voluntary reduction in his £703,000-a-year pension despite a direct plea from the current chairman of RBS to yield to mounting public and political outrage over the size of his pay-off....RBS shareholders jeered and heckled the bank's current directors at the group's annual general meeting in Edinburgh yesterday.Earlier they had rejected the group's new remuneration report containing details of Sir Fred's controversial pension pot. It was opposed by 90.4 per cent of shareholders, the overwhelming majority of whom made up the Government's controlling stake in the group managed by UK Financial Investments, which voted against the report. The vote is advisory, and the defeat will have no impact on Sir Fred's pension deal.
Sir Fred Goodwin will not be making a voluntary reduction in his £703,000-a-year pension despite a direct plea from the current chairman of RBS to yield to mounting public and political outrage over the size of his pay-off.
...RBS shareholders jeered and heckled the bank's current directors at the group's annual general meeting in Edinburgh yesterday.
Earlier they had rejected the group's new remuneration report containing details of Sir Fred's controversial pension pot. It was opposed by 90.4 per cent of shareholders, the overwhelming majority of whom made up the Government's controlling stake in the group managed by UK Financial Investments, which voted against the report. The vote is advisory, and the defeat will have no impact on Sir Fred's pension deal.
Bank Medici, an Austria-based investment manager, said yesterday that its Herald fund, which was set up and started investing with Mr Madoff in February 2008, was bringing legal action against the bank after losing $2.1bn (£1.4bn) when the investment company run by the disgraced US financier collapsed earlier this year.
