A global first in the beef sector, that gives beef farmers a guaranteed market for their product with a predictable and transparent pricing formula while creating a closed loop supply chain for beef customers

The Fund invests in Irish small to medium-sized companies with a focus on regional investment and targeting a capital raise of €100 million.

21st March 2020: The Irish Examiner report that Castletownbere Fishermen's Co-op with 500 livelihoods is in threat of closure because fresh fish markets have collapsed is a case in point of how the Irish Government can use its top rank credit rating to implement "All that it takes" fiscal policy. At risk is not just this important part of the economy's infrastructure, with 400 self employed fishermen and 100 PAYE taxpayers in the processing plant. It is a case study in microcosm of enterprises and jobs that are in trouble the length and breadth of the Republic right now.

13th May 2020 - Dublin, Ireland - HSBC Ireland is joining in the fight against COVID-19 through funding local charities and supporting their relief and recovery efforts in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic. The bank has donated €30,000 to The Community Foundation of Ireland to support its COVID-19 Response Fund, aimed at addressing the immediate needs of organisations impacted by the virus. Throughout 2020, HSBC Ireland will donate €230,000 to charities and causes throughout Ireland.

The importance of FX risk management to institutional investors has grown significantly in recent years writes RBC Investor & Treasury Services’ Roger Exall. He says this has been primarily due to currency volatility caused by geopolitical events coupled with further expansion into new markets, whether that be mature, emerging, and/or frontier. He says that not all institutional investors are implementing an effective FX strategy to measure and manage the associated risks, while ensuring they are optimizing execution efficiency.

With an influx of new authorisation applications, the scale and complexity of the Irish financial system has changed considerably as a result of the UK leaving the EU, the Central Bank’s Deputy Governor has said.

18th March 2020, 1700 hrs: In a statement after the meeting the CEO of Permanent TSB, Jeremy Masding said PTSB "along with the other Retail Bank CEOs, met this afternoon with the Minister for Finance, Mr. Paschal Donohoe TD, in the context of the current Covid-19 crisis".

25 March 2020, 0011.30 hrs: "Ireland is well placed to increase its borrowing activity in the coming years arising from the economic disruption relating to the Covid-19 pandemic, the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) said today. "Five years ago the average interest rate on our national debt was close to 4%; it is currently on course to fall below 2%. Five years ago our annual interest bill was over €7.5 billion and is now close to €4 billion" said Conor O'Kelly, chief executive of the NTMA.

24th March 2020 (Updated 25th March) : The Government announced a fiscal package estimated by the Minister for Finance as costing potentially €300 million a week for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic. Details can be accessed: here . The Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, estimated that the weekly potential cost to the Exchequer of the measures at €300 million a week, which would amount to €3bn in the next 10 weeks. Details of financing for businesses have been published by the banks: See: AIB here; Bank of Ireland here, Ulster Bank here; KBC here; and Permanent TSB here. The Banking and Payments Federation (BFPI) issued this statement on the Irish monetary and fiscal policy action scheme worked out with the Government and Central Bank.

The USA's Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin (March 23rd) announced, as part of a $4 trillion package, a scheme to support businesses with up to 500 employees in which the US Small Business Administration (SBA) administers loans to affected firms taking up the Government's fiscal aids to salaries that loans will be forgiven, i.e. repaid by the Government to the banks participating. For a comprehensive description of the full range of monetary tools being used by the US authorities at present see this.

The Minister for Finance has confirmed that the power to set a Systemic Risk Buffer (SyRB) is to be granted to the Central Bank, which will complete the macroprudential framework for bank capital.