Ireland

KBC bank sells loans for the first time

Irish bank KBC has sold loans to credit-servicing and debt-collection firm Cabot Financial Ireland. The sale of the KBC portfolio is understood to involve more than 100 loans – most of which related to buy-to-let properties that have been sold – with money is still owned on the original mortgages. The sale comes weeks before…

Number of Irish bankruptcies increased in 2015

The number of bankruptcies in Ireland increased last year, according to the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI)’s latest annual report. According to the report, there were 479 bankruptcies in 2015 – up seven per cent from 448 in 2014. There was also a massive increase in the number of people who were returned to solvency…

Permanent TSB enhance customer Service with Noble agreement

Irish bank Permanent tsb has announced their intentions to focus on new controls within their contact centre and provide enhanced customer service with Noble System’s Composer Real-Time Speech Analytics. Alan Murphy, Head of Collections at permanent tsb, said “At permanent tsb, we take customer service very seriously and we have invested heavily in technology that will support…

Irish SMEs wait the longest to be paid says global study into small businesses

Ireland’s SMEs are waiting the longest for payment from customers, according to the inaugural Global Business Monitor report from international business funder, Bibby Financial Services (BFS). The global study surveyed business owners in the USA, Germany, UK, Poland, Hong Kong and Ireland and found that Irish SMEs wait an average of 38 days for payment.…

Ulster Bank fined €3.3 million over rule breaches

Ulster Bank has been fined 3.3 million (£3 million) by Ireland’s financial watchdog over breaches of money laundering and terrorist financing rules. The Central Bank said its inquiries uncovered significant failings in Ulster Bank’s procedures practices over six years from July 2010. It said its inquiries uncovered significant failings in Ulster Bank’s procedures but no money…

Ireland: More applying for personal insolvency

New figures from the Insolvency Service Ireland show that almost 900 people applied to put a formal insolvency arrangement in place with their lenders. The figures were for the three months to the end of September. This was up 102% on the same three months last year. But the number of heavily-indebted people who secured a…

Cabot Credit Management announces debt purchase collections increase

Cabot Credit Management (CCM)) has announced its financial results for the past 6 months (period ending June 2016. The statement said that  Debt purchase collections increased 24% from £141.6million to £175.9 million compared with the same period in 2015. 120-month Estimated Remaining Collections increased to £2.07 billion from £1.92 billion for the same period in 2015 and…

Microcredit lending scheme launched in Ireland

Irish Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar has announced a new scheme to allow credit unions provide small affordable loans. A pilot scheme in 30 credit unions saw 1,300 people accessing the loans, the average amount of which was under €500. A further 50 credit unions have already expressed interest in joining the scheme Up to 400,000 people are estimated…

Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland and Bibby Financial Services launch invoice financing fund

The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) and Bibby Financial Services Ireland (BFSI) have announced a €45million lower-cost invoice financing fund for Irish SMEs. An extension of SBCI’s on-going efforts to drive competition and choice in the Irish lending market, the announcement sees €45 million in funding being made available to Irish businesses. The agreement enables…

Uncertainty for businesses and UK insolvency regime following Brexit

“Leaving the EU will have a major impact on the way corporate insolvency works in the UK.   “Domestic insolvency legislation itself is likely to be unaffected, the insolvency profession is involved in a lot of cross-border work in Europe. One key change is that it could become much harder to retrieve assets on behalf…

Duff & Phelps have acquired Corporate Finance Ireland (CFI)