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Irish Times
14-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
State `well positioned' despite uncertain markets, NTMA says
The State is 'well positioned against the backdrop of uncertain markets' even though the Ireland still has debt of more than €200 billion and there is no place for complacency, National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) chief executive Frank O'Connor said as the agency published its latest annual report. 'There is a strong market awareness of the buffers we have in place through our funding and debt management strategy,' said Mr O'Connor. 'The strength of our public finances coupled with the long weighted average maturity of our debt, means we expect to have relatively low borrowing requirements in the short to medium term.' Mr O'Connor said that at the end of 2024 general Government debt was at €218 billion – almost €20 billion below the post pandemic peak. The agency has raised €5.25 billion so far this year in the bond market, close to the bottom end of its €6 billion-€10 billion fundraising target. It had over €30 billion in cash and liquid assets at the half year point, reducing the requirement for borrowing in the coming year, amid heightened global economic uncertainty as a result of the Trump administration trade policies and heightened geopolitical tension in the Middle East. READ MORE US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he planned to introduce a 30 per cent tariff on goods coming from the EU at the beginning of August. However, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said at the NTMA briefing that it is still possible for Brussels and Washington to reach an agreement on trade by that time. 'We are now entering into a crucial final phase of this engagement', he said. [ Opens in new window ] The State's ratio of debt to modified gross national income-star (GNI*) stood at just below 70 per cent at the end of last year – down from about 160 per cent in 2012 and approximately 100 per cent in 2021. Mr O'Connor said Ireland was also benefiting from locking in low interest rates in previous years. He said debt interest cost €3.2 billion in 2024 which was almost 60 per cent lower than its peak over a decade ago. 'Sentiment towards Ireland is positive, as demonstrated by robust ongoing demand for our debt and a positive trend of upgrades from ratings agencies', he said. The State's creditworthiness is rated AA by Moody's, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch, the world's three main debt ratings agencies. The Juggle: the issues facing women with young children when balancing childcare and their careers Listen | 44:30 Two new sovereign wealth funds set up last year to capture and invest windfall tax revenues are set to have about €16 billion on their books between them by the end of the year, according to Mr O'Connor. Mr O'Connor said that NTMA will have to 'look hard' at its systems and protocols after it was discovered in recent days a €5 million fraud had been perpetrated against it . The payment was made to a third party at a time when there was a financial drawdown or capital call anticipated, involving one investee company of the NTMA-managed Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (Isif) There had previously been a legitimate payment to the company. The €5 million fraud was 'an extremely serious matter' for the agency, he said, adding that once the issue was discovered last week, the NTMA immediately made a report to the Garda, the Department of Finance and other relevant authorities. He said there was no suggestion that there had been an IT breach or any threat to the IT systems in the NTMA.
Reuters
14-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Irish debt office to review security protocols after losing 5 million euros in phishing attack
DUBLIN, July 14 (Reuters) - Ireland's National Treasury Management Agency, the state body that manages debt and the sovereign wealth fund, will review its security protocols after losing 5 million euros ($5.9 million) in a phishing attack, it said on Monday. The scam was discovered last week after staff at the 17 billion euro Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) - a sovereign development fund that the agency also runs - expressed concern about a payment made to what they thought was an investee company. Instead, it was found that they had received a fraudulent payment request from a third party designed to look like a legitimate request from the existing investee company at the time of an expected drawdown of funds, NTMA Chief Executive Frank O'Connor said at a news conference. ISIF, which invests in companies that support employment and economic activity in Ireland, has made almost 250 individual investments, many involving several such drawdowns or so-called capital calls, in its 10 years of operation. "We will have to look hard at our own systems, our own protocols, and the investigation will fully get into that," O'Connor said, adding that the investigation will consider if more controls are needed. The NTMA has reported the fraudulent payment to the police and said it is seeking to recover the funds. O'Connor said that there was no suggestion of an IT breach at the NTMA or that any inside information had been used on its part. The story was first reported by the Irish Daily Mail. The NTMA was most recently tasked with running Ireland's new sovereign wealth fund, which the government hopes to grow to around 100 billion euros ($117 billion) over the next decade to ease future healthcare, pension and climate costs. "In my many years of engagement with the National Treasury Management Agency, I have seen at first hand how seriously they take all matters with regard to security," Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe told the news conference, describing the attack as "regrettable but extremely rare." Neither O'Connor nor Donohoe discussed who may have been behind the attack, mentioning that they were restricted in what they could say. ($1 = 0.8552 euros) (This story has been corrected to show ISIF is a sovereign development fund, not a sovereign wealth fund, in paragraph 2)
Irish Times
14-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
NTMA ‘will look hard' at its systems and protocols after €5m fraud
The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has said it will have to 'look hard' at its systems and protocols after it was discovered in recent days a €5 million fraud had been perpetrated against it . NTMA chief executive Frank O'Connor on Monday said the payment was made to a third party at a time when there was a financial drawdown or capital call anticipated, involving one investee company of the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. There had previously been a legitimate payment to the company. Speaking at the unveiling of the NTMA's annual report for 2024, he said the €5 million fraud was 'an extremely serious matter' for the agency. READ MORE He said there was no suggestion that there had been an IT breach or any threat to the IT systems in the NTMA. Mr O'Connor said when the issue was discovered, the NTMA immediately made a report to the Garda, the Department of Finance and other relevant authorities. 'It won't surprise you that our immediate focus is on recovery and investigating the matter fully', he said. Mr O'Connor said that having approved an investment, there could be several capital calls or drawdowns of money. 'We will have to look hard at our systems and our own protocols to ensure was there anything we could have spotted (or) any shortcomings and the investigation will (look) at that,' he said. Mr O'Connor said a capital call was not just a phone call. He said it involved a process that would have to be engaged in and that would lead to the withdrawal of funds. He said there was no suggestion that the fraud could have been perpetrated on the basis of inside information. 'Obviously a fraudulent actor may have gathered enough (information) outside of the NTMA that may have led to it. I can't really get into any more detail at this stage and obviously we will investigate the matter fully.' Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe backed management at the NTMA. He said the €5 million fraud was 'regrettable, but extremely rare'. 'In my many years of engagement with the National Treasury Management Agency, I have seen at the first hand how seriously they take all matters with regard to security, and the ongoing and huge efforts that are made to protect the money of the taxpayer of Ireland,' he said. 'I have seen at first hand the investments and care they make to protect their systems and to protect the money of our country. I know that every effort will be made to investigate, to review and to follow up on all of the circumstances around this incident.'
