In short

Today's other stories in brief

Private sector jobs down 6% on July figure

About 15 per cent of companies in the private sector had job vacancies last month, down from 21 per cent in the previous month, as the services industry reported fewer openings, according to the latest FÁS/ESRI Employment and Vacancies Survey.

The proportion of service sector firms with vacancies slipped 13 percentage points to 19 per cent. Vacancies dropped "slightly" in the industrial sector and rose in the retail sector.

Allianz Corporate A-rating affirmed

Non-life insurer Allianz Corporate Ireland (ACI) yesterday had its "A" ratings for long-term counter-party credit and insurer strength reaffirmed by ratings service Standard & Poor's (S&P).

However, related company Allianz Ireland (AI) had its "A" ratings withdrawn by S&P, following its asset transfer to Allianz Corporate Ireland and after it stopped acting as an insurance carrier.

Desmond firm wins €30m contract

A software developer in which financier Dermot Desmond holds a stake has won a contract to provide products and services to Australia's €30 million border security project.

Daon, which produces identity assurance software using traits like fingerprints and iris and voice recognition, has been engaged by the main contractor on the project, technology giant, Unysis, to provide it with software and support services.

O2 objects to EU regulator activity

Mobile phone operator O2 has issued a formal complaint against the European Union's top anti-trust regulator, saying Brussels ignored its rights of defence in a long-running probe into allegedly excessive roaming fees.

The unusual move could prove embarrassing for the European Commission, which has been investigating three of the region's biggest mobile phone companies for more than seven years. - (Financial Times service)

Irish Life adopts pension ruling

Irish Life & Permanent has agreed to implement a Labour Court decision and to close defined benefit pension schemes to new employees from the end of the year. The group said it will close the schemes to new employees on December 31st and will replace them with defined contribution schemes.

Hibernian appoints new deputy

Insurance group Hibernian has named Stuart Purdy as deputy chief executive.

Mr Purdy was previously managing director for parent group Aviva's operations in India. He will assume responsibility for the Hibernian Life and Ark Life businesses.

Irish Nationwide

A headline in Wednesday's editions referred in error to Irish Nationwide merging with a rival. The story concerned the UK-based Nationwide building society which is scheduled to merge with another UK society Portman.