In Shorts

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

Students top of the class for banking

Students are better at managing their finances than the population as a whole, with three-quarters of students with a credit card clearing their bill every month or keeping a credit balance, according to Bank of Ireland.

The figure for the general adult population is closer to 50 per cent.

One in five of Bank of Ireland's student customers have a credit card and one in eight have a personal loan.

Credit card usage among students is lower than average with only 9 per cent using their cards more than once a week. Nearly two-thirds of student personal loans are for less than €2,000 and the average loan is €1,589.

One-third of the bank's student customers have a savings account.

"Students continue to display exemplary behaviour when it comes to managing their finances," said Nicola Brady, marketing manager of personal banking at the bank.

Bank of Ireland said it had prudent lending strategies for students, with "firm" credit card limits of €400 for first and second years and €800 for older students.

SSIA holders 'should not panic'

Holders of equity-linked Special Savings Incentive Accounts (SSIAs) have no reason to panic about the recent volatility in the stock market, according to the Professional Insurance Brokers Association (Piba).

"Equities are by their very nature prone to some turbulence," Piba chief executive Diarmuid Kelly has reminded investors.

"However, that does not mean that they will fail to deliver good results to their owners. Like a jet aircraft, the quality of the journey does not impact on the landing, 99.9 per cent of the time."

Historically equities have outperformed deposits over periods of five years or longer, Mr Kelly added.

The current fluctuations in the stock market mean that equity SSIA holders might be better off not withdrawing their money the instant it matures.

"For equity SSIA investors the key question is when to cash in. There is no obligation to cash in now."

AIB launches Japanese fund

AIB Private Banking has launched a new Japanese property fund for corporate, personal and pension investors.

The fund is seeking to raise a minimum of €40 million in new capital, which will be leveraged through borrowings of up to €160 million to create a fund of up to €200 million.

Investments will be made across a range of property sectors in Japan and the investment period is expected to be eight years.

Brian Nevin, senior manager at AIB Private Banking, said the Japanese economy was going through a slow but steady recovery after years of deflation, when property values fell by up to 70 per cent.

"The property market is responding to the improved economic situation and this is reflected in rental growth and declining office vacancy rates."