Do you know what vanity capital is? It’s an industry based on selling us things that we don’t need, but which make us feel better — and its worth €3.4 trillion says Suzanne Harrington

The majority of international fund managers expect the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in September.

A British man has appeared in court in connection with the gruesome murders of two women – one of whom died six days before her body was discovered in a suitcase – in Hong Kong.

There will be no further call on the Irish taxpayer to bail out the banks following the results of the ECB stress tests, which showed that Permanent TSB failed one part of the comprehensive assessment.

From Michael Jackson to the Beatles, Martin Nolan has handled the world’s biggest celebrity auctions. Not bad for a man from Athlone who began his American dream working as a hotel bell man when he won a lottery visa to the states.

Google’s removal of some search results in Europe is drawing accusations of press censorship.

Google’s removal of some search results in Europe is drawing accusations of press censorship.

Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner has declared his intention to put the club up for sale.

You would not have to be Ben Bernanke, Christine Lagarde or even Barney Curley to realise that there was, during the darkest moments of our economic crisis, a lot of freeform, off-the-cuff advice offered to Government by very expensive consultancy firms.

Just 60 officials across three State bodies are involved in investigating individuals who were central to the banking crisis, a report from the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee finds.

To paraphrase Franklin D Roosevelt, September 29, 2008 is a night “which will live in infamy” yet, unlike the bombing of Pearl Harbor to which he referred, we are no wiser after the event.

The state guarantee of the banking system introduced five years ago that eventually undermined the country’s economic sovereignty was based on a lack of proper information, according to experts.

Fresh revelations in the Anglo-tapes scandal about Brian Cowen’s administration shows his party was willing to save the failing bank at any cost, his political opponents claimed.

David Drumm believed that the Fianna Fáil-led Government's external advisors Merrill Lynch were 'disproportionately angry' with Anglo Irish Bank.

Fresh revelations in the Anglo-tapes scandal show that Brian Cowen's administration refused to shut down Anglo Irish Bank despite warnings from the Government's own external advisers, Merrill Lynch.

Bankers living abroad and other high-ranking officials linked to the night of the bank guarantee will be compelled to attend the Government’s promised banking inquiry under new powers announced.

The markets have lost faith in the coalition government in the UK which means sterling will remain weak for the foreseeable future, said Lorcan Roche Kelly, chief european strategist with the US hedge fund, Trend Macro.

The new President of the American Chamber of Commerce Peter Keegan has today called on the Government to maintain Ireland's 12.5% corporate tax rate.

I am ignorant of the workings of the financial world but, about I was recently asked: “Who are — or were — Anglo Irish Bank?”

I am ignorant of the workings of the financial world but, about I was recently asked: “Who are — or were — Anglo Irish Bank?”

Tomorrow is the start of a critical few weeks forEurope when the fate of Greece, the euro and the weaker eurozone countries could well change for ever.

Lehman was followed in quick succession by Merrill Lynch, and then by the world’s largest insurance group, AIG.

Irish-based banks’ reliance on emergency funding fell to a two-year low in February.

THE prospect of Greece leaving the eurozone is still on the table, despite an expected vote by the Athens parliament to accept the austerity measures attached to its second bailout loan.

The Odeon and UCI cinema group is being lined up for a potential £1bn (€1.13bn) sale by its private equity owner Terra Firma, according to reports today.

A LEADING investment analyst says he believes that Ireland should be able to renegotiate aspects of the €85 billion bailout plan under a new government.

ASKING for external aid is not a disaster for countries such as Ireland, Bank of America Merrill Lynch senior economist, Silvia Ardagna, said at the bank’s Global Year Ahead event in London yesterday.

CONSULTANTS were handed €34 million to advise the Government and state agencies on the banking bailouts, it was revealed yesterday.

Consultants were handed €34m to advise the Government and State agencies on the banking bailouts, it was revealed today.

THE fallout from the banking crisis pushed Ireland’s cost of borrowing to new highs yesterday as the interest rate on 10-year bonds rose to 3.89% above German rates.

ANGLO Irish Bank chiefs made a desperate plea to Bank of Ireland to take it over on the same day the Government was holding crisis talks on the introduction of the blanket guarantee to protect the banking sector.

NATIONALISING both Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society two years ago would not have averted the need for Government to introduce its bank guarantee scheme, the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee has heard.

Anglo Irish Bank provided a very optimistic presentation of its finances 10 days before the Government’s dramatic move to guarantee all deposits in six Irish banks, a top civil servant claimed today.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has stood over the bank guarantee scheme, despite the fact the Government was warned of the major risks in taking such an approach just days before it was implemented.

THE Government was told by its lead consultants not to let any Irish institution fail, but that a blanket guarantee was a high-risk approach.

THE Dáil Public Accounts Committee will meet with Department of Finance officials next week to discuss the revelations in the documentation.

ANGLO IRISH BANK’S attempts to gloss over its problems to the Government in the weeks leading up to the state guarantee became clear yesterday.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen was yesterday resolute that the September 2008 blanket bank guarantee of the country’s six main financial institutions “was the right decision”.

IT is difficult to understand how, in September 2008, less than three days after the country’s two top finance watchdogs – the Central Bank chief John Hurley and financial regulator Patrick Neary – told Government that Ireland’s banks were not facing a debt or cash-flow crisis that a €440 billion deposit guarantee was deemed unavoidable.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen tonight insisted he stood by a €440bn State guarantee given to Irish banks at the height of the global financial crisis.

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

The Public Accounts Committee is releasing documents relating to events in the lead-up to the Government's decision to impose a banking guarantee in September 2008.

I REFER to the article “Merrill Lynch’s Irish arm fined €2.75m” (October 24) published in your business section. The article concerns the fine recently imposed upon Merrill Lynch by the Financial Regulator. The second paragraph of the article states: “The largest fine involved one of Ireland’s wealthiest businessmen Sean Quinn who was fined €3.25m over the sale of shares in Anglo Irish Bank, where he lost over €1 billion.”