Joe Brennan

4 days ago | irishtimes.com | Joe Brennan

A US private equity fund led by former French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s half-brother has hired a UK advisory firm to explore a sale of AA Ireland, the roadside assistance and insurance intermediary company it bought in late 2020, the Sunday Times reported.

5 days ago | irishtimes.com | Joe Brennan

The abacuses are being put through their paces at PTSB’s headquarters in Dublin as chief executive Eamonn Crowley seeks to rework the models that calculate the riskiness of the bank’s loans. Crowley is aiming to make a submission to the Central Bank in the coming months that, all going well, will reduce the amount of expensive capital PTSB must hold in reserve to absorb potential shock losses.

6 days ago | irishtimes.com | Joe Brennan

Axa Ireland, the largest general insurer in the market by customer premiums, decided to hold off paying dividends to its French parent on last year’s earnings, marking the first such hiatus in five years, as it built up capacity to start underwriting health insurance for its Laya Healthcare brand from the start of this year.

6 days ago | irishtimes.com | Joe Brennan

Fergal O’Leary, the bond market veteran who cofounded a company that made millions finding buyers for Irish debt following the 2008 financial crisis as big-name investors fled the scene, reckons his latest venture can bridge gaps in another market: mortgages. Núa Money, the nonbank lender he set up in 2021 with some former Citigroup bond market colleagues and Kazakh fintech whizzes, and backed by the Allen beef barons of Wexford, began issuing loans last summer through brokers.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Joe Brennan

CRH has hired US executive Nancy Buese to become its next chief financial officer (CFO) as the building materials giant continues to target inclusion on the S&P 500, the world’s most followed stock market index. Ms Buese will take up the role in the middle of May, having most recently served as CFO of Baker Hughes, a US energy group. Prior to that, she held a similar role between 2016 and 2022 at Newmont Corporation, a gold mining group. She will be based in New York at CRH.