Chinese investments, AIB and Irish life team up and who foots the bill?

Business Today: the best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

Almost 1,100 Chinese citizens have paid up to ¤1 million each into social housing, nursing home and other projects, making their country the biggest player in a Government cash-for-residency scheme. Barry O'Halloran reports.

AIB is in exclusive talks to set up a life and pensions joint venture with Irish Life, as it seeks to boost its income and product offering in an era when ultra-low interest rates are weighing on lending margins. Joe Brennan has the details.

Join us to celebrate The Irish Times Innovation Awards 2020from 1pm – 2pm on Wednesday 27th January 2021. These awards aim to recognise the incredible innovations of Irish businesses across the entire island of Ireland. The awards will be broadcast on irishtimes.com/business.

The Pokémon Company has entered into a long-term lease for 5,000sq ft of space distributed across the third and fourth floors at 2 Central Plaza, the classical commercial building immediately adjacent to the iconic Sam Stephenson-designed main tower. Ronald Quinlan reports.

READ MORE

EasyGo claims to have surpassed the ESB as the State's largest provider of electric vehicle (EV) charge points., writes Eoin Burke-Kennedy.

Lioncor is on course to secure over more than ¤40 millionfrom the sale of the redeveloped Chatham House to the European Parliament., reports Ronald Quinlan.

Nominations have opened for this year's EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards, which is now in its 24th year. This year's programme will see 24 companies from across the island selected to compete across three categories - emerging, industry and international - with eight finalists chosen per award. Charlie Taylor has the details.

Developers and investors involved in the delivery of accommodation for Dublin's private rented sector ( market will be interested in the sale of a prime development site in south Dublin. Ronald Quinlan reports.

Irish consumer sentiment slumped again in January as coronavirus cases surged and the country entered another national lockdown, reports Eoin Burke-Kennedy.

December was another record month for contactless paymentswith the monthly value of contactless spending surpassing €1 billion for the first time, according to the latest figures published by Banking and Payments Federation Ireland, writes Colin Gleeson.

In her weekly column Fiona Reddan wonders just who is going to pay for the costs of working from home?

In this week's Inside Business: sport special podcastOlympic Federation of Ireland CEO Sarah Keane and GAA director of communications Alan Milton join Ciarán Hancock and Michael O'Keeffe to talk about the challenges and opportunities for sport in Ireland in 2021.

Stay up to date with all our business news: sign up to our business news alerts.

Conn Ó Midheach

Conn Ó Midheach

Conn O Midheach is Assistant Business Editor - Digital of The Irish Times