* The award-winning garden of Gertie and Maurice O’Donoghue at Dromboy, Carrignavar, will open this Saturday and Sunday from 2pm to 6pm in aid of the Friends of Marymount.

The UK's biggest lenders have agreed to set up a new body to improve standards and the reputation of the banking industry.

The sequence of events leading up to the offences can be traced back to a meeting in a Navan hotel in September 2007 involving Ireland’s then richest man and two Anglo Irish Bank directors.

Private investigators seized former UCI chief Pat McQuaid’s laptop computer within minutes of him losing the presidency of the organisation to Britain’s Brian Cookson, it has emerged.

Britain's biggest banks have appointed former CBI business lobby group boss Richard Lambert to set up and lead a new independent body to raise standards in the industry.

Finance houses face a new “three strikes and you’re out” policy under new rules allowing the Financial Services Ombudsman to name and shame.

A retired insurance broker, who lost €500,000 in a property bond deal with Anglo Irish Assurance Co in Jan 2006, has lost a High Court bid to force the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), formerly Anglo, to pay it back to him.

The minister for social protection is waiting for the High Court judgment on the Waterford Crystal pension scheme before she delivers recommendations to the Government on wider pension reforms.

President Michael D Higgins attacked the EU as part of his oath to do everything in his power for the welfare of Ireland, he has declared.

Doctoral students at University College Cork have been given a timely reminder of how a chosen specialisation can sometimes lead to an unexpected career path.

There has been a lot of speculation in the media regarding Seán Quinn.

INSPECTIONS into mortgage arrears cases will be a core target in 2012 under the Central Bank’s new framework for supervising risk levels in financial institutions.

An Oxford professo has claimed that our economic situation is not as bad as it looks.

Rupert Murdoch used adverts in national newspapers today to apologise for the News of the World’s “serious wrongdoing”.

Rupert Murdoch will use adverts in national newspapers tomorrow to apologise for the News of the World’s “serious wrongdoing”.

FINANCIAL services group IFG has said that its UK operations — which accounted for 57% of group profits last year — have enjoyed a good start to 2011, without giving any specific growth figures.

The FTSE 100 Index bounced back from six straight sessions in the red today as world markets regained their poise.

THE Department of Finance was aware Anglo Irish Bank was trying to place shares controlled by businessman Seán Quinn long before the controversial deal became public, it has been claimed.

The FTSE 100 Index edged higher today as traders sat on the sidelines ahead of an expected interest rate hike in China this weekend.

BRIAN LENIHAN was yesterday named the worst finance minister in Europe in an annual ranking by an influential financial paper.

FINANCE MINISTER Brian Lenihan and Central Bank governor Patrick Honohan will join business leaders and commentators at the International Financial Services Summit at Dublin’s Four Seasons Hotel on November 10.

FINANCIAL Regulator Matthew Elderfield has warned of the need for caution on how we treat bond holders in the banks.

The issue of whether to break up Britain’s banks will be top of the agenda tomorrow when more details emerge of a Government-led inquiry.

THE Galway tent may have been blown away in the bust but things equine still dominate Fianna Fáil gatherings in the city – only these days it is the four horsemen of the economic apocalypse racing towards them.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary turned his focus on the cockpit today as part of his ongoing drive to save costs at the budget airline.

The Opposition has today rounded on the Government's management of the 2008 financial crisis.

THE Central Bank’s veto over senior banking appointments needs to be underpinned with new legislation, attendees heard at yesterday’s Mazars Banking Conference in Dublin.

A MAJOR crackdown is to be launched on mortgage lenders who harass customers or force them to pay inflated costs.

SOME much-needed clarification on the future of the banking sector should surface on Tuesday when the Financial Regulator is expected to announce the capital funding requirements of the banks that will be transferring loans to NAMA.

Bill Prasifka - current chairman of the Competition Authority - has been appointed as Financial Services Ombudsman.

FINANCIAL stocks had a second consecutive positive day’s trading yesterday, boosted by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan’s comments – on Monday – that the capital requirement issues at the main banks will be fully addressed, one way or the other, during the first three months of this year.

The London market followed Wall Street lower today amid more nerves over prospects for economic recovery.

THE country’s financial watchdog expects to announce its new director of financial supervision within the next three weeks.

The Masters in Management degree programme at UCD's Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School has again been ranked in the world’s top 40 by the Financial Times; the only Irish business school to have its programme featured in these prestigious rankings

FINANCIAL services group IFG expects its Irish mortgage business to be loss-making in the second half of the year as lending volumes continue to fall.

I READ with amusement about the two “portraits” of Brian Cowen.

FINANCIAL watchdogs expressed alarm yesterday that nearly €100m of taxpayers’ money was spent on prison facilities without being subjected to a proper tendering process.

A FIANNA FÁIL TD has called on the Oireachtas Finance Committee to launch a much more aggressive investigation of the failure in the country’s banks.

FINANCIAL Regulator Patrick Neary insisted he should not have to resign after a number of politicians questioned his suitability for the job in light of recent financial turmoil.

The Taoiseach has come out strongly against the actions of an Irish bank official, in the wake of the Government’s new support scheme for banks and guaranteed deposits.

THE expected hike in ECB interest rates next month will damage the housing market further as higher borrowing costs will prevent thousands of potential buyers entering the market.

FINANCIAL giant Bank of Ireland has been forced to rethink its latest big budget ad campaign after inadvertently upsetting a customer.

UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s shares were under pressure today after it was reported that private equity suitors faced a potential £3bn (€4.4bn) pensions hurdle.

Takeover speculation involving music group EMI was reignited today after it said it had received an approach.