THE National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) needs to look at introducing performance bonuses to help attract and retain top talent, the agency’s chairman has said.

Frank Daly told TDs yesterday that there needed to be some sort of a retention plan to encourage staff to stay.

NAMA staff are paid on average €90,000 but Mr Daly said 15 people had left the agency already this year.

AROUND 680 buy-to-let mortgages which are in arrears have been sold to Germany’s biggest bank by Danske Bank, as the Danish lender withdraws from Ireland.

The former National Irish Bank mortgages were sold by Copenhagen-based Danske Bank to Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank, the Bloomberg news agency reported yesterday.

The mortgages had been put up for sale some time ago with a price tag of around €100m.

Maximum passenger charges that can be levied at Dublin Airport could plunge after the aviation watchdog said they should fall by more than a fifth by 2019.

The Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR) issued a draft determination on the passenger charge structure it proposes should be implemented at Dublin Airport between next year and 2019.

The maximum charge that can be levied per passenger at Dublin Airport, which is controlled …

Aran Candy, the Dublin-based company that produces confectionery under ‘The Jelly Bean Factory’ brand, has sold a majority stake to Swedish confectionery firm Cloetta in a deal valued at €15.5m.

The Swedish company has bought a 75pc stake in Aran Candy for €15.5m.

Aran Candy was founded in 1998 by father and son Peter and Richard Cullen after they identified an opportunity in the European confectionery market for an American-style …

A new €500,000 fund aimed at graduates is hoping to encourage more young entrepreneurs to strike out on their own.

The Enterprise Ireland Competitive Start Fund, which will open to applications on July 9th, will offer up to €50,000 in support for each successful applicant.

Targetted at businesses involved in activities such as the internet, games, apps, mobile, SaaS, cloud computing, enterprise software, lifesciences, food, cleantech and industrial products, the …

STATE-owned AIB has proposed a new payment structure for its non-executive directors which will see their basic yearly fee more than double, but other payments cut.

Fees for duties like attending meetings, serving as a committee chair or on the board of a subsidiary company are all being reduced.

The bank said the new structure, to be signed off by shareholders, would see the total amount paid to the executives …

THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised concerns that the Central Bank of Ireland is not independent enough.

The Washington-based fund said it had concerns that an official from the Department of Finance sits on the Central Bank Commission.

OVER one fifth of Irish small businesses have had to sack or warn staff over their social media behaviour on the likes of Facebook and Twitter over the past year.

And 44pc of bosses are now checking these platforms before recruiting staff, the results of a new survey of SMEs and business owners from Bord Gais/Mindshare showed today.

One quarter of business owners check social media over breakfast, a further …

Overnight comments from the European Central Bank chief heightened expectations of easing steps in the euro zone as Asian stocks erased early modest gains and the euro steadied.

“Short covering has been continuing since last week’s strong China PMI data and U.S. housing data,” said Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. “The main buyers are short-term investors like derivatives players and hedge funds.”

THE National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) has reported a profit after impairment, tax and dividends of €211m for 2013, its fourth year in operation.

The impairment charge for the year was €914m, up from €518 the previous year, following a review of impairment provisioning.

Cash generated was €4.5bn including asset disposals by debtors and receivers and rental income.