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RBK Credit Union Seminar 22 - Introduction 610.94 KB

Introduction by Michelle O'Donoghue, Director, RBK to the 2022 RBK Annual Credit Union Seminar.

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RBK HR Solutions Brochure 1.13 MB

At HR Solutions we provide a wide range of bespoke HR services to suit businesses of all sizes, across all industries. Our HR Professionals are agile, personal, practical and cost effective and will partner with you so that you can get the best out of your people and help you protect and grow your business. In this brochure, we provide more detail on our range of services in: Employee Relations Management, Talent Acquisition - Recruitment and Selection, Organisational Design and Transformation, Compensation, Benefits and Rewards, Performance Management, Diversity & Inclusion, Employee Engagement & Well-Being, HR Audit & Management Guidance Documentation, HR Helpdesk & Employee Handbook, Employee Life-cycle Management and Learning & Development.

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Credit Union Benchmarking Survey Results 2022 3.02 MB

Loan book growth continues to be a top priority for both community and industrial credit unions in an environment where declining investment returns are eroding expense to income ratios, according to a survey published today by RBK.

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The Treasury Hub - May 22 909.18 KB

Welcome to the fifth edition of THE TREASURY HUB Banking and Treasury Markets Bulletin of 2022. The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to impact on financial markets but there is a lot of volatility in other areas also since our bulletin last month:• Inflation is still a hot topic • Interest rates have steadied somewhat after a sustained period of increasing • Energy prices remain stubbornly high • FX rates have also bounced around a lot with USD making significant gains • Crypto currencies have taken a bashing • Tech stocks have also suffered more than most other sectors in 2022 • An oil company (Saudi Aramco) replaced Apple as the world’s largest company by market cap…. who said fossil fuels are a thing of the past?We have warned for some time in this bulletin that the key inflation metric to watch is food inflation given the impact of it on everyone and we see it as the main driver of wages hike pressures. Consumer habits will also change as a result and discretionary spend is already taking a hit with subscriptions to the likes of Netflix and Peloton being adversely impacted.Last month we stated that from a risk management perspective, it looks like the most volatile period in markets, financial and otherwise, since 2008 and, in some cases, since the 1970s. This is a view that we continue to hold.

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Succession & Estate Planning Update - May 2022 2.81 MB

The third event in RBK's Lunchtime Series, with RBK and Reddy Charlton Solicitors was held on Thursday, 19th May 2022.Stephanie Whelan from Reddy Charlton Solicitors gave an overview of succession law, including particular consideration in light of modern family arrangements, Enduring powers of Attorney and the impact of the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act 2015. RBK’s Richard McAufield considered taxation implications of gifts and inheritances including life time gifting, assets passing on death, discretionary trusts for incapacitated children, common reliefs and foreign considerations in estate planning. RBK’s Patrick Keegan provided an overview of opportunities to use a pension as a vehicle to pass on wealth tax efficiently to the next generation and the interaction between pension funds and CAT rules.

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Brexit VAT & Customs Update - April 2022 1.97 MB

At the second event in RBK's Lunchtime Series, we took at look at Brexit, One Year On - What have we learned?Irish & UK VAT and Customs – Common Pitfalls and Practical Solutions.Speakers included Nigel Roberts, Director of VAT & Indirect Taxes at Scotland's largest independent firm of Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers, Johnston Carmichael, Brian McNamara, Managing Director of customs clearance experts, Swiftfile and RBK's Ronan McGivern, International Tax & Business Advisory Partner who shared practical insights and provided guidance in relation to Irish VAT, UK VAT and Customs considerations.

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The Treasury Hub - April 22 1020.11 KB

Welcome to the fourth edition of THE TREASURY HUB Banking and Treasury Markets Bulletin of 2022. This Bulletin represents a review of the first quarter of 2022 and in Section 5, we have a look at the implications of rising interest rates.The invasion of Ukraine by Russia continues to dominate financial markets along with inflationary pressures. The latter were already building before the invasion but have moved higher due to increasing energy prices in particular. While Oil prices remain high, Brent Crude has eased back to $108/barrel. There has however, been large volatility experienced in other commodity markets e.g. gas and nickel.Consumer confidence also seems to be taking a hit while faster and larger interest rate hikes are now increasingly mentioned due to the highest levels of inflation in decades. All of this is against a backdrop of a possible slowdown in economic activity, which can have a “double negative” impact on businesses: higher costs and lower sales/profits. In this scenario, financial covenant compliance in any loan agreements suddenly take on significance – see Section 5 for further analysis. From a risk management perspective, it looks like the most volatile period in markets, financial and otherwise, since 2008 and, in some cases, since the 1970s.

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Commercial Property Update 6.53 MB

The First event in RBK's Lunchtime Series, we took at look at what is happening in the Commercial Property market. In particular, we explored current trends in the market as well as the legal and tax implications of commercial property transactions, including lease surrenders, variations and potential pitfalls. Speakers included James Nugent, Senior Director, Investments and Offices at Lisney who provided an industry overview of what they are seeing in the market, Roisin Bennett, Head of Property at Reddy Charlton Solicitors who provided an insight into topical legal considerations in relation to commercial lettings, including the impact of recent caselaw and RBK’s Sinead McMahon who addressed a number of tax implications of lease variations and some common traps and pitfalls.

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Treasury Hub - March 22 1.35 MB

Welcome to the March edition of THE TREASURY HUB Banking and Treasury Markets Bulletin. In this edition we review the past month and, in Section 5, we take a look at the 2021 results of the three main banks. The past few weeks have been dominated by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The resultant loss of life, physical destruction of the country and creation of a huge refugee crisis in Europe almost seems unimaginable. Talking about financial and economic matters is trite against that backdrop, but the event has and will have an impact on all of our lives to varying degrees in the weeks and months ahead. The impact of the crisis has been immediate in two areas: food and energy. Oil has jumped in price with Brent Crude hitting almost $140/barrel last week. Wheat has jumped from $850 to $1,252 in just over a week on the CBOT. And all of this will feed into inflation, slowing economic growth whilst also creating a dilemma for central banks and interest rate management. Adding the cost of the refugee crisis to the mix and assisting, hopefully, in the resolution of the conflict and the rebuilding of Ukraine, and 2022/23 will be challenging.

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ILCU Pension Webinar 1.44 MB

RBK hosted a webinar providing an overview the ILCU Defined Benefit Scheme where we discussed a number of issues for those credit unions that are currently considering their options. Speakers were, Michelle O'Donoghue, Audit & Business Advisory Director, Patrick Keegan, Wealth Management Director and Yvonne Clarke, HR Solution Manager.

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The Treasury Hub - January 2022 1022.69 KB

Welcome to the first edition of THE TREASURY HUB Banking and Treasury Markets Bulletin of 2022. This bulletin takes a look back at 2021 and in Section 5 we include our annual “trends to watch”.Key market movements in 2021 included inflation hitting highest levels seen in decades in some countries, which was fuelled by a significant increase in oil prices. In addition, interest rate hikes are now on the agenda for the first time in over a decade. Economic trends were broadly positive but funded by huge government borrowings and Central Bank stimulus. Despite the pandemic, labour markets are very tight across many geographies and stock markets have been driven up by the availability of cheap money. So who pays for this? And how will markets react to money supply starting to contract? In section 5 we discuss how the Irish Business Banking sector might look in 2022 and how the lack of competition may become an obstacle to businesses and consumers.

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Treasury Hub Update - December 21 868.74 KB

Welcome to the last edition of THE TREASURY HUB Banking and Treasury Markets Bulletin of 2021. Interest rates will be top of the list of items to watch in 2022, especially after the hike by the Bank of England at the December meeting. GBP Libor will be no more as of the 1st January 2022. Whether inflation is sustained during 2022 will be a key driver of central bank decisions.On the currency front, GBP had a much better year with most of the Brexit-related uncertainties out of the way. USD also had a strong year primarily driven by rising interest rates (and expectations of same). From an investment perspective, stock markets performed very well over the year but the big story was the large increase in Oil prices given the wide knock-on effect of this. Section 5 in this Bulletin looks ahead to 2022 and what the new year might look like for the banking and treasury markets.

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