Bankers indicated last week that pig farmers may be the most stretched sector financially, and that cattle finishers are considering selling feed rather than buying cattle.

Borrowers ripped off by the tracker mortgage scandal have been paid up to an average €45,000 in compensation and redress, new figures show.

Known as ‘God’s Banker’ and the ‘Father of Globalisation’, Peter Sutherland’s legacy is considerable yet, to some, controversial.

The Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, has announced his intention to proceed with an Initial Public Offering of AIB.

A company director accused of having €1.9m in crime proceeds in connection with a forestry investment business has been further charged with fraudulent trading.

A woman “struggling to get by” after her husband “abandoned” her and their children fears she will lose her family home if a bank gets a €65,000 judgment against her, a High Court judge has said.

Eoin Ó Broin TD says Housing Minister Simon Coveney’s grace period is over and he should turn his focus from press launches to building and buying more homes, and meeting the targets as recommended by the Dáil committee on housing    

A move by the Bank of Ireland to dissuade large companies from parking €10m or more in short-term deposits is a “defensive” strategy for the lender in an era of rock-bottom interest rates, a leading economist has said.

A new organisation aimed at bringing together businesses in Scotland and Ireland is set to launch today.

Update: CEO of the Irish Brokers Association Ciaran Phelan said the AIB cut was welcome, but still very high by European standards.

State-owned Allied Irish Bank has defended relief given to mortgage holders and said its customer base is growing and that it is dropping interest rates.

Jean Claude Trichet has denied phoning the late Brian Lenihan and instructing him to save the banks, Henry Shefflin selects RTÉ over Sky Sports to launch his GAA punditry career and Cian Healy is spared a conviction despite a judge ruling the tinted windows in his car were ’unsafe’.   These are some of the latest and most read stories on irishexaminer.com this evening.

Enda Kenny’s decision to cut USC has been seen as a bid to reclaim votes, a hero garda is being celebrated after risking his life to save three children, Paul O’Connell plans to see out his IRFU contract and David Beckham hits 40. These are some of the latest and most read news stories on irishexaminer.com this morning.

TURN on the radio or pick up a newspaper and you might just notice that there is an inquiry tasked with finding out why this State was nearly destroyed by its banks. It is in this context that I ask the question: why are Bank of Ireland (BOI) and Allied Irish Bank (AIB) running banks in our schools?

Mary O’Riordan, who has a share in over 40 hives, begins a new series of columns introducing the art of beekeeping to our readers.

Ireland's Central Bank snubbed warnings from a top figure in the country's leading economic think-tank eight years ago about the dangerous scale of loans to speculators and developers, an inquiry has heard.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan is adamant he does not have to cut €2bn from the budget, while the EU opened a glimmer of hope Ireland could get retrospective bank recapitalisation. But Mr Noonan would not say if his budget would leave more money for services, or mean tax cuts for some.

Welcome to your Tuesday morning briefing. Let us ensure you’re up to speed on what’s happening and are prepared for the day ahead.

Allied Irish Bank is confident it will breeze through the ECB stress tests following the announcement the bank has returned to underlying profit for the first time since 2008.

The CEO of Allied Irish Bank says plans to return the bank to profitability this year are now a "reality".

There is an old adage that says that “all political careers end in failure”.

Former Irish Nationwide chairman Michael Walsh wrote to the late minister for finance, Brian Lenihan, warning him against bank mergers as the financial crisis escalated, according to a letter obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan said the Government may seek to sell a stake in Allied Irish Bank before the country’s next scheduled election.

The State could end up paying more for the Irish banks if they fail the stress test next year as the bailout fund, the ESM, is ruling itself out and bailing-in the shareholders has become more acceptable.

MUSIC NEWS: Arcade Fire have exploded back on to the music scene with a promotional blitz for their forthcoming album Reflektor, due out on Oct 29. Last Monday, the band released the single ‘Reflektor’, complete with backing vocals from David Bowie.

An FBI agent has claimed a man accused of being the largest facilitator of child porn in the world was attempting to move to Russia to avoid extradition to the United States.

Allied Irish Banks has claimed 4% of its mortgage customers have decided not to repay the money.

It is grotesquely hilarious to witness Allied Irish Bank chief executive David Duffy castigate so-called strategic defaulters for their alleged refusal to fulfill mortgage contracts (Irish Examiner, Aug 2).

Access to a low-interest credit line will be explored by Finance Minister Michael Noonan in discussions with the troika that has just begun its latest, and second last, inspection of the country’s bailout programme.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that he sticking to his plans to hold an Oireachtas inquiry, but has left open the possibility to re-run the referendum to give more powers to Parliamentary inquiries.

Allied Irish Bank could be sold to the EU’s rescue fund under an agreement reached by eurozone finance ministers as part of a new scheme for winding up or rescuing banks.

A decision on whether Ireland can recoup some of the €32bn it put into rescuing its banks should be made this week when eurozone finance ministers meet in Luxembourg.

The chief executive of Allied Irish Bank has said that the recent decision to increase mortgage rates is fair.

Irish politicians have been so vociferous in demanding a deal on bank debt that they are in danger of convincing European counterparts they are being driven by self-interest, writes Ann Cahill

Irish banks are ill-equipped to deal with companies touting new business and exporting abroad and are facing stiff competition from foreign lenders, Enterprise Ireland has admitted.

Ireland may receive substantially less from the EU’s rescue fund than the €32bn the country has ploughed into its banks.

Former Tánaiste Dick Spring, who represents the taxpayer on the board of AIB, has defended his salary as "reasonable".

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is being linked to the buying of a €2bn portfolio of loans from Irish Bank Resolution Corporation — the former Anglo Irish Bank.

The spectre of yet another EU Treaty change and the possibility of another Irish referendum was on the cards last night in a move that would further delay any resolution of the country’s banking debt.

The Taoiseach has said he will not direct AIB not to increase mortgage rates, because the bank has to return to profitability.

Banks which fail to be customer-focused, and which fail to apply creativity and banking skill are devastating the owners of small- and medium-size enterprise when refusing loans, according to the head of the Credit Review Office.

Allied Irish Bank lent £98m (€123.5m) to an alleged fraudster on the back of dodgy guarantees from a top Chinese property firm, a London court heard yesterday.

Waterford GAA chiefs are in talks to secure a €650,000 bank loan as they battle to balance the books.

Last week, I went into a Bank of Ireland branch for the change of a €50 note.