Banks on notice; mortgage rate rises loom; and Johnny Ronan’s Glass Bottle site plan

Banks have been told to plan betterfor the looming tsunami of customers changing financial service providers with the imminent departure of Ulster Bank and KBC from Ireland. In a round table meeting to which they were summoned by the regulator, particular emphasis was put on smoothing the transfer of customer direct debits, writes Joe Brennan.

Meanwhile, mortgageholders have been warned that a "normalisation" of interest rates across Europe could see borrowers in Ireland paying up to €400 more a month even on modest mortgages of €250,000. Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports as a top European Central Bank official raised the prospect of a half percentage point interest rate increase in July if inflation continues to climb, the first time such an aggressive shift has been mooted.

Gordon Deegan reports that a Johnny Ronan-led consortium will lodge plans in the coming days for 516 apartments at the former Irish Glass Bottle site in Dublin, half of which will be either build to rent, or social or affordable housing. The consortium already has a separate plan for 356 apartments on a different part of the site before Dublin City Council.

Documents released by Twitter show that Elon Musk first discussed taking Twitter private with the social media company's board more than a week before his initial 9.2 per cent stake was disclosed as a passive holding and more than two weeks before going public with a $44 billion hostile bid, new regulatory filings show. That could put him on the radar of US regulators over a potential breach of disclosure rules.

Productivity gap between North and South to be examined

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Johnny Ronan looking to build 516 apartments at Irish Glass Bottle site

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Occupier sought for last remaining floor at 57 Adelaide Road

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Longford retail investment at €6.75m offers net initial yield of 8.45%

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Closer to home, pharmacists say long hours in a high-stress environment with no breaks is driving many of them from well-paid community pharmacy jobs. As the sector calls on the Government to take action to help boost recruitment, the pharmacists say pharmacy owners need to improve working conditions.

Pizza group Domino's largest Irish franchise saw pretax profit increase by 16 per cent to €12.25 million in a year when the Belfast-based Caldwell family that owns the majority of the Shorecal business shared in a €20.24 million dividend. That's a big slice in any money.

In Commercial Property, the former church, known as St Andrew's, on Dublin's Suffolk Street – most recently a Bord Fáilte office – is back looking for tenants with full planning permission for a licensed food hall, dining, cultural space along with annex banqueting hall. Ronald Quinlan has the details.

And the National College of Ireland is closing in on the purchase of an office block from the Central Bank to facilitate the expansion of its main campus in Dublin's IFSC.

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