UK insurer Aviva, which has substantial operations in Ireland, is considering acquisitions in Poland and Turkey, its chief executive said, as it reported a 2% rise in operating profit and said it planned to return £500m (€560m) to shareholders.

Brand new to the Cork market this week is a prime office investment opportunity, for sale via agents Lisney, at 26/27 South Mall, writes Diarmaid Condon.

The Supreme Court has upheld an order requiring developer Gerry Gannon to pay an investment company €320,667 damages over his failure to complete the purchase of a lease for a building next door to his Dublin 4 headquarters.

Aviva Ireland wants to increase its market share in pensions and life-assurance, having completed a €130m acquisition of Friends First, writes Eamon Quinn. 

Aviva Ireland wants to increase its market share in pensions and life-assurance, having completed a €130m acquisition of Friends First.

A legal row has erupted in relation to the development of a shopping centre at Blackrock in Co Dublin.

European elections, Brexit talks, and the policies of US president-elect Donald Trump are among the “immense risks” facing the Irish economy in 2017, economist Jim Power said in his annual assessment for investment firm Friends First.

A new government will face huge challenges to mend and invest in tattered public services at a time when public finances are still “constrained”, Friends First economist Jim Power has predicted.

Concerns are being raised about the number of people who have not signed up for a pension.

The general consensus among exploration companies with Irish assets is that the Government’s new fiscal/tax terms need to be revised to take account of the new low oil price environment.

Avolon Airspace CEO Domhnal Slattery is liable for more than $10m (€9m) to Friends First under a personal guarantee following a Court of Appeal finding “sharp practice” lead to a clause being “slipped” into a deed which, unknown to the lender, removed that liability.

A Garda investigation is under way in relation to life insurance policies worth €2.2m taken out on a woman who died in a tragic drowning accident in India last year, the Commercial Court has heard.

The biggest threat to Ireland’s economic recovery is local political upheaval as opposed to events in the wider eurozone economy or the UK, according to one leading economist.

Profits at the firm that operates jobs.ie last year rose 19% to €2.54m. The Dublin-based jobs portal is a subsidiary of Saongroup. New accounts show the business paid a dividend of €10m to its parent on August 31 last.

As many as 700,000 people fear that they will not have sufficient income when they stop working with an even greater number depending solely on the state pension to provide for their retirement.

Billed as Cork City’s "last great retail site of note", a plot of more than half an acre on St Patrick’s St and Grand Parade — including the Capitol Cinema site and Central Shoe Stores — goes for sale next week.

Face of change in Cork City

Financial adviser Gary O’Flynn was jailed for three years — with the last two years suspended on his undertaking never to apply for a certificate to act as a solicitor.

A Cork solicitor and financial adviser was jailed last night after a jury returned 13 guilty verdicts against him in his deception trial.

A solicitor and financial adviser has been put on trial on charges related to the alleged theft of thousands of euro made by two people who turned to him for advice on dealing with repaying their debts.

While Ireland’s economy is showing modest signs of recovery, the growth outlook remains challenging and the Government will need to retain a tight fiscal policy all the way out to 2020, one leading economist has warned.

The outlook for the Irish economy into 2014 is generally positive, according to a report to be published by Friends First later.

Up to 71% of employees in Ireland are now investing in a pension, according to the Friends First annual pension research published today

Shares of EMC, the world’s biggest maker of storage computers, tumbled after forecasting full-year profit that trailed analysts’ estimates and as VMware, the software maker it mostly owns, said it is considering job cuts.

Businessman Dómhnal Slattery’s action against Friends First Life Assurance Company, which he alleges threatened to pursue him for almost $10m (€7.6m) under an alleged guarantee over funds issued to buy a hotel in Washington DC, has opened before the Commercial Court.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan is facing the next round of talks aimed at getting a deal on reducing Ireland's bank debt today, but chief economist at Friends First Jim Power says that it is too late for senior debt relating to Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide, with much of it already having been paid.

Quitting cigarettes could result in savings of as much as €9,000 on life insurance, according to a price comparison survey by the National Consumer Agency.

Friends First Finance Ltd is seeking summary judgment totalling €4.6 million against the widow of deceased property developer Liam Maye over guarantees she gave on loans to the couple’s three daughters for equity fund investments.

We shouldn’t get carried away with all the talk of an agri-boom restoring the country’s fortunes, writes Conor Humphries

A study published today has predicted that the Irish economy will grow 1.4% next year, but house prices are likely to fall by 8% and unemployment to average 14.1%.

MORE than a third of people surveyed said they don’t have a pension, while one in five cannot meet all of their monthly financial commitments.

IRELAND and Portugal were the only European Union member states to register declines in consumer spending during the second quarter of this year, despite an average quarter-by-quarter rise of 2.5% across the EU.

CENTRAL Bank chief Patrick Honohan has warned that if the economy doesn’t recover at a relatively strong pace in the coming years then the Government’s ability to deliver the €15bn four-year budgetary/fiscal adjustment could be under threat.

Friends First has issued a snapshot of the current state of the Irish economy and its view on efforts the new Government should take to rebuild our reputation.

THE Financial Services Ombudsman should have decided whether a company of investment advisers is entitled to see certain documents from a credit union before ruling on a complaint over the loss of the credit union’s entire €1 million investment in a bond which collapsed in value, the High Court has found.

Business confidence among Irish brokers has deteriorated significantly in the last six months, according to a new survey.

Tens of thousands of homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages will not be given a bailout, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan declared today.

Friends First is recommending that taxes be raised and the tax net widened ahead of the Budget next month.

THE cost of state borrowing hit a high of 7.85% on bond markets yesterday as investors fear Ireland will default on its debts.

AS Irish bond rates stayed close to record highs yesterday, the European Commission’s internal market commissioner said he was confident Ireland would overcome its current economic difficulties.