Banks take a beating in funds survey

A staff squeeze in the Republic's fund management industry could be hitting the quality of service delivered by banks operating in the sector here.

A yearly survey of seven banks responsible for managing more than €156 billion worth of funds from Dublin shows that overall client satisfaction with the institutions is on the way down.

The R&M Dublin Trustee Survey 2005 shows that four of the six banks that were included in both 2004 and 2005 scored less in the latest survey than in the one completed a year earlier. One bank, State Street, was included for the first time.

Citigroup, which dropped from first to third, Northern Trust, HSBC and JP Morgan, all had poorer scores than in 2004. AIB and Mellon both improved their score, with the latter taking the top spot with a score of 6.05 out of seven.

Richard Hogflesh, chief executive, R&M Surveys, pointed out that the overall average score was down.

"There may be several explanations for this, not least of which is the strain of expansion in the Dublin market putting pressure on continuity and availability of staff," he said.

There is high demand for fund managers, fund accountants and other skilled personnel.

Rate hikes coming to end, says Fed

The Federal Reserve said yesterday it thought its 1-1/2 year long campaign of raising US interest rates was nearing an end, saying a statement after its December meeting aimed to signal only a few more increases were likely.

The Fed raised the benchmark federal funds overnight lending rate by a quarter-percentage point to 4.25 per cent at its Dec. 13 meeting, the thirteenth straight gathering at which it nudged credit costs higher.

In a statement after the meeting, Fed officials said "some further measured policy firming" was likely.

Minutes of that meeting released yesterday showed officials believed that language would suggest to financial markets that only a few more rate hikes were in store. - (Reuters)

AIB confirms departure of pair

AIB has said that its finance director, Gary Kennedy, and the managing director of its UK division, Aidan McKeon, left the bank on December 31st. Both departures were signalled last year.

Retirement for Kingspan chief

Kingspan has announced the retirement of executive director, Jim Paul, the managing director of the group's structural and off-site and raised access floor divisions.

Pan Andean plugs well in Texas

Pan Andean Resources said that drilling in the Neff-Geissen well onshore Texas had found only water and the well has been plugged.

Separately, the company said it had been informed by Sterling Exploration and Production, the company which is to pump and pipe oil from its High Island 30 Platform in the Gulf of Mexico, that it has been unable to complete repairs and refurbishment of their own facilities due to a lack of service boats.

Amarin licences drug to Multicell

Amarin Corporation, the pharmaceutical group spun off from Elan, said yesterday that it had licenced exclusive worldwide rights to its treatment for fatigue in multiple sclerosis to Multicell Technologies.

Multicell will rename the drug, now known as LAX-202, as MCT-125 and will evaluate it in a Phase IIb/Phase III clinical trial which is expected to begin before the end of 2006.