Quinn Direct: forced market exit presents opportunities for competitors

Following concerns about its solvency raised by the Irish Financial Regulator, the High Court in Ireland has forced Quinn Insurance to stop writing new UK business. This will create potential growth areas for new or existing players, especially within the UK private and commercial motor insurance market, as well as the UK liability insurance market, where the Irish group has a strong foothold.

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Plastic cards: Irish transaction value less than a tenth of Spain's

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New technology presents opportunities for those willing to shake up the Irish payments market

The Irish payments market is changing: the domestic debit card scheme Laser is being phased out, presenting challenges for players in the market but also opportunities, as new technology enters the market.

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Julius Baer and Bank of America Merrill Lynch: shaking up the world order of global wealth managers?

Julius Baer has agreed to acquire Merrill Lynch's non-US wealth management operations from Bank of America. The deal is sizable, seeing Julius Baer boost AUM by around 40%, and could see it edge into the top 10 largest wealth managers globally. Despite the divestment, Bank of America is set to remain as the third largest wealth manager in the world, thanks to its significant US operations.

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Ireland's wealth market to outperform the rest of the PIIGS

The wealth markets in Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain (PIIGS) are among the worst performers at a global level, highlighting the difficulties faced by some of the traditional wealth markets. Western Europe as a whole has performed poorly in recent years, and the outlook up to 2015 is now even bleaker, with downward developments looking increasingly likely.

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Investments: EU causes alarm and despondency

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High net worth investors' high exposure to sovereign debt should be a major cause for concern

The passage of legislation in the US to raise the debt ceiling will be welcomed by investors worldwide, but US Treasuries are not out of the woods yet and Europe's debt faces further downgrades. This is bad news for the eurozone's high net worth investors, who hold 13% of their wealth in these supposedly "safe-as-houses" investments.

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Health insurance: Irish market to break E1 billion mark in 2004

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HBOS: taking a punt on Ireland

UK banking group HBOS plans to open 46 outlets in Ireland under the banner of Bank of Scotland over the next 14 months. The GBP110 million investment will see HBOS shake up the established order, but the timescale of more than a year to open what will still be a comparatively small branch network should give Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks time to react.

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HBOS: onto the green

Following the announcement of its stronger-than-expected annual results, UK banking group HBOS has announced its purchase of a nationwide branch network in the Republic of Ireland. The move is likely to serve the company well if it ensures its price led strategy is as successful in Ireland as it has proved in the UK.

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