In Short

A round-up of today's other business news stories in brief

Dutch central bank takes control of discounter DSB

The Dutch central bank yesterday seized control of troubled DSB Bank and placed a virtual freeze on up to 400,000 account holders, installing administrators to oversee the likely liquidation of the discount lender.

Other banks which partly fund the state’s deposit guarantee scheme face payouts of as much as €3.5 billion.

The central bank moved in after it failed to overcome a liquidity crunch at privately-held DSB through a consortium of ING, SNS Reaal, Rabobank and the nationalised ABN Amro and Fortis Bank Nederland.

The negotiations faltered over concerns about loan losses and potential claims against DSB.

Finance minister Wouter Bos said the government would investigate the conduct of current and one-time DSB board members, including former finance minister and current ABN Amro chief executive Gerrit Zalm. – (Reuters)

Three groups to pitch on radio news

Three groups interested in providing an interim radio news service that would replace Independent Network News (INN) will make final pitches to a panel of stakeholders this week.

It is understood that Denis O’Brien’s Newstalk, UTV and a group fronted by INN editor Richie McCullen have been shortlisted and they will pitch to the board again on Thursday before a winner is selected. A number of groups have stated an interest in providing a longer-term replacement for INN.

INN announced it was to cease trading on October 31st, with the loss of 16 jobs.

Actions over Smart buyout settled

Several legal actions arising from the buyout of Smart Telecom have been settled at the Commercial Court.

Jim Breslin, for Smart, told Mr Justice Peter Kelly yesterday that the actions, due to open on November 3rd, had been settled and could be struck out with no further order.

The actions centred on disputes between former Smart Telecom chief executive Oisín Fanning and Brendan Murtagh.

They included a claim by Smart YuRoE Broadband, controlled by Mr Murtagh and related firms, against Mr Fanning for more than € 1.1 million over alleged unjust enrichment while he was CEO.

100 new PayPal jobs for Dublin

Global online payments company PayPal is to create 100 new jobs at its operation in Dublin.

The new posts will be in customer service and operations at its European centre of excellence, which is located in Blanchardstown.

The company already employs more than 950 people at the Dublin base, an increase from the 25 it employed when the operation centre opened in 2003.

The Dublin centre manages customer contact for PayPal’s businesses across Europe.

Six months ago, PayPal announced an investment of €15 million to support the development of the Dublin offices into a European centre of excellence.