Bank of Ireland’s CEO, tech layoffs, and health insurance bills

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New Bank of Ireland CEO Myles O'Grady Photograph:  Eric Luke  /  The Irish Times
New Bank of Ireland CEO Myles O'Grady Photograph: Eric Luke / The Irish Times

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Bank of Ireland named Myles O’Grady as its next chief executive, and Joe Brennan reports on the former chief financial officer’s return to the lender. Cantillon meanwhile assesses what will be foremost in the minds of the bank’s investors.

Staying with banking, Ian Curran reports on Permanent TSB’s plans to spend about €25 million renovating a number of branches it is taking over from Ulster Bank. Separately, Cantillon also looks at the mutterings of some in banking that planned legislation that would make it easier to hold individual bankers accountable for wrongdoing and asks if those complaints are appropriate.

Finally, in what is a busy day for financial services, Banking & Payments Federation Ireland is urging small and medium sized firms to move their accounts from KBC and Ulster Bank, after a report showed only 20 per cent of such accounts at those lenders have been closed this year.

The tech lay-offs are arguably the highest profile story of the moment. Ciara O’Brien reports that Twitter met Ireland’s Data Protection Commission amid the apparent departure of top executives at the company.

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Ciara also reports that Irish firm Intercom is laying off about 14 per cent of its staff, while separately Amazon is reported to be preparing to lay off about 10,000 corporate globally.

Elon Musk may be mostly in the headlines for Twitter at the moment, but a fascinating court case has started in the US, where Tesla investors are challenging his compensation package estimated at $56 billion.

Staying with the technology sector, Facebook owner Meta is seeking to bring High Court proceedings to quash a record €405 million in fines for violating children’s privacy on its Instagram service.

Walford on Shrewsbury Road became the most expensive home in the country when Sean Dunne bought it for more than €50 million during the Celtic Tiger years. Now though the Supreme Court has ruled out hearing an appeal by Mr Dunne’s son, John, against a stamp duty bill from Revenue. Mary Carolan has the details.

Health insurance is one of the most important, but also one of the biggest bills that people pay. Now, as Dominic Coyle reports, customers are being left out of pocket for sometimes expensive medical procedures because of confusion over the extent of their private health cover and the nature of pre-existing conditions, according to the financial services and pensions ombudsman.

Beauparc Utilities is probably best known as the owner of waste disposal brands Panda and Greenstar. Gordon Deegan has the details of its 2021 accounts, which show key executives shared a windfall of more than €50 million.

In her column, Laura Slattery looks at two keys of winter television this year: I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here, and the upcoming world cup in Qatar and asks if they are more depressing this year than in others.

Joe also has the details of a new report which shows the Irish motor insurance industry last year enjoyed its most profitable 12 months since at least2009, with the average premium per policy declining just 2 per cent even as compensation awards for personal injuries began to drop sharply under new guidelines.

As the housing crisis continues, Gordon Deegan reports on An Bord Pleanála’s decision to approve a €360 million housing development near Donabate in north Dublin which had faced some local opposition.

A new report from PwC shows increased reliance on third-party providers of cloud-based services has heightened cybersecurity risk and complexity for Irish businesses. Ian Curran has the story.

The High Court has approved a Personal Insolvency Arrangement (PIA) that will allow a man who ran his own retail business for many years to write off approximately €900,000 in debt owed to a financial fund. Aodhan O’Faolain was in court.

Gordon also reports that plans are to be lodged in the coming days for 491 residential units for lands surrounding Dalguise House at Monkstown in South Dublin.

In Your Money, Dominic Coyle looks at the rules around renting out or selling a family home under the Fair Deal scheme, and the problems that can arise when a person does not make a will.

Fiona Reddan asks why, amid rising interest rates, savers aren’t earning more from their deposits.

Finally, Miss Jones CEO Lisa Boissel takes us through her spending habits.

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