A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
More than 10% of workers to retire at 70
More than one in every 10 Irish workers expect to retire at 70 or older, according to a survey by insurance company Standard Life, indicating that the traditional retirement age of 65 will become less common in future decades.
The survey found that 37 per cent of adults thought they would retire between the ages of 65 and 69, with 11 per cent of those surveyed believing they would retire at 70 or older.
However, only 24 per cent of those surveyed said they wanted to work beyond that age.
"This indicates that many people may feel forced to work longer for financial reasons," said Nigel Dunne, director of sales and marketing at Standard Life.
UK report into Equitable delayed
A major report into the collapse of British insurance company Equitable Life has been delayed until May 2007.
The chairman of the European Parliament's inquiry into how the UK regulator handled the collapse, Fine Gael MEP Mairéad McGuinness, said the delay in the report by the UK parliamentary ombudsman, Ann Abraham, was disturbing.
Ms Abraham was expected to release her report this autumn, but "missing evidence" came to light at a late stage.
Some 6,500 "late joiner" Irish investors suffered heavy losses as a result of a ruling by the House of Lords, which forced Equitable to honour guarantees given to older customers.
Moneywise puts out wealth guide
Moneywise Financial Planning has published a new guide on wealth management, called What are you doing for the rest of your life?
The guide covers topics such as pensions, approved retirement funds (Arfs), annuities and unit-linked funds.
Moneywise is introducing a fee-based financial counselling service for people who want to discuss delicate issues such as home equity release schemes without having to approach the companies selling those products.
Broker starts online mortgage pricing
Irish Mortgage Corporation has launched a new online service that allows homeowners to shop around for a mortgage and apply online.
Frank Conway, director of the mortgage broker firm, said the Irish mortgage market was becoming increasingly competitive.
"What many homeowners may not know is that they can refinance an existing mortgage to a better rate," he said.
Finance awards open for entry
The MoneyMate and Investor Magazine awards, which are dubbed the "Oscars of the finance industry", have opened for entry.
The final deadline for applying for the awards is January 20th and the winners will be announced in March.
The awards feature 16 categories and include three new awards - best customer service, best online financial service and best financial consultancy.
