Latest news with #Makhlouf
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- Business
- RTÉ News
Losses at the Central Bank last year increased six fold to €795m
Losses at the Central Bank last year increased six fold to €795m, according to the 2024 Central Bank's annual report which shows that the losses of €795m follow losses of €132m for 2023. The losses of the past two years followed an era of super profits at the Central Bank where it had generated more than €23.5bn of profits in the 15 years to 2022 in the wake of the financial crisis. In a blogpost accompanying the publication of the annual report, Central Bank Governor, Gabriel Makhlouf said: "Our financial position remains robust, despite the losses that we incurred as a result of the necessary monetary policy actions to achieve price stability. "Prior to the use of any provisions, the Central Bank recorded a loss, like a number of other central banks across the world, of €795.4m in 2024," Mr Makhlouf said. "Similar to last year, this result was due to the exposures arising from the use of the Central Bank's balance sheet as a tool for monetary policy - reflecting our mandate to safeguard price stability." Mr Makhlouf said that the Central Bank's role is not to make profits:"Our mission is to serve the public interest by maintaining monetary and financial stability, while ensuring that the financial system operates in the best interests of consumers and the wider economy." "We find ourselves facing into a period of both challenge and opportunity for the Irish economy, against an uncertain international backdrop," he said. "The global geopolitical landscape faces significant strain and complexity, driven by competing interests, shifting alliances with different values and increasingly independent economic blocs." The report states that going forward, the Central Bank's balance sheet structure and interest rate environment is forecast to reduce the Central Bank's income over a number of years and to result in losses in 2025, and potentially beyond. The report states that "while these losses are expected to be covered by the Central Bank's financial buffers, their full extent is uncertain and will depend on many factors, in particular the monetary policy set by the ECB's Governing Council to ensure price stability. The annual report shows that with the rising price of gold, the value of the Central Bank's gold increased from €722m to €970.76m last year. The report shows that Mr Makhlouf's salary last year increased from €316,794 to €331,369 arising from salary increases across the public sector. Mr Makhlouf is also in receipt of a UK public service pension. The annual report shows that six staff received pay in excess of €240,000 last year with a further 11 receiving pay between €210,000 and €240,000. The amount paid out in professional fees last year increased from €15.05m to €21.65m. The spend on legal fees increased from €1.85m to €2.23m and a note states that the costs relate to 26 separate legal cases including €44,000 for settlements in three cases and €400,000 awarded against the Central Bank. The Central Bank's insurance company paid €70,000 relating to legal costs and settlements. Staff expenses, including salaries and allowances of €198m, increased from €221.23m to €246.28m. Numbers employed increased from 2,234 to 2,263 at the end of last year. Staff hospitality last year increased from €250,000 to €279,000.
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Central Bank recorded loss of €795m last year
The Central Bank of Ireland made a loss of €795.4m last year as a consequence of using its balance sheet as a tool for monetary policy. Publishing its annual report, the CBI said the utilisation of its general risk provision brought the result to a nil profit for the year. Central Bank governor Gabriel Makhlouf said the bank's financial position remained robust, despite the losses. "These losses reflect the use of our balance sheet as a policy tool, and — over a number of years — the bank has built up substantial financial buffers in anticipation of such an eventuality," he said. He said the interest rate mismatch risk, which caused the loss, was anticipated and projected, and the Central Bank took a number of actions in recent years to mitigate the impact. As part of its assessment of the risk, a provision of €3bn was built up to cover anticipated losses. The bank's wide-ranging report covers various actions taken in 2024. "Over the course of the year, we put in place a new integrated approach to regulation and supervision, which involved significant internal reorganisation. "This, among other things, will enable us to better respond to the risk environment of the sectors we supervise and the consumers we work to protect," Mr Makhlouf said. Enforcement actions last year included a €1.2m fine for Goodbody Stockbrokers for failing to put in place an effective trade surveillance framework to monitor, detect and report suspicious orders and transactions. Waystone Fund Management was fined €393,512 for eight breaches, including failings in relation to due diligence, conflicts of interest, delegate oversight, risk management, valuation procedures and treating investors fairly. The Central Bank reprimanded and fined BlueSnap Payment Services Ireland Limited (BlueSnap) €324,240 for three breaches of the European Union (Payment Services) Regulations 2018, for failing to comply with its safeguarding obligations and failing to inform the Central Bank promptly of changes to the accuracy of information given at authorisation. Three Central Bank inquiries continued in 2024, including one related to former PTSB chief executive David Guinane, who in January was found to have participated in a failure by the bank in 2009 to act in the best interests of certain tracker mortgage customers, breaching consumer protection rules. Other actions by the Central Bank included issuing currency. Last year, the Central Bank issued 166 million banknotes, valued at €5.3bn, representing a 2% decrease on the 169 million banknotes issued in 2023. The Central Bank, acting as agent for the minister for finance, issued 63 million coins, value at €33m. Read More Irish household wealth reaches a new record of €1,247bn
Shafaq News
16-05-2025
- Business
- Shafaq News
Makhlouf's ambiguous announcement: Elite force on Syria's coast
Shafaq News/ On Thursday, Syrian businessman Rami Makhlouf announced the formation of an elite force in the country's coastal region, referring to undisclosed agreements tied to what he described as the 'Coastal Province.' In a post on his official Facebook page, Makhlouf—cousin of former President Bashar al-Assad—stressed that the force is not intended to engage armed groups currently present in the area, but rather to secure the region following their withdrawal. He warned that while certain agreements concerning the region are being finalized 'in ink,' parallel efforts to undermine them 'with blood' are underway. Although he pledged to protect the region, he offered no further details about the nature of the arrangements or the parties involved. Makhlouf also mentioned a 'nearly complete system' encompassing security, military, economic, and social components, suggesting that preparations are underway for a broader administrative framework in the coastal zone. The post drew criticism online, including from voices within the coastal community. Some questioned whether Makhlouf personally manages the account, while others speculated that he may be acting with support from an external power—Russia being among the names cited. His statement comes amid ongoing instability in Syria's coastal region. In March, the area experienced a wave of violence following coordinated attacks by armed groups described as remnants of the former regime. The incidents were followed by reports of lawlessness and widespread abuses. Makhlouf, once considered one of Syria's most powerful businessmen, has maintained a low public profile in recent years after falling out with authorities over financial disputes and the control of key assets. His reemergence has rekindled speculation over shifting dynamics within Syria's post-conflict power structure.
RTÉ News
13-05-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Central Bank chief Makhlouf warns uncertainty will persist even if trade war passes
Uncertainty in the global economy is likely to persist even if a global trade war proves short-lived, European Central Bank governing council member Gabriel Makhlouf said in a speech today in Dublin. "Even if a full-blown trade war turns out to be short-lived, the uncertainty effects will persist for some time," Mr Makhlouf, the Governor of the Central Bank here, said. "Amplification risks from elevated public and private debt levels, and how these might ripple through the financial system, are a further downside risk," he added. He made his comments in a speech at the International Economic Symposium in Dublin, an event co-hosted by the Central Bank and the National Association for Business Economics. "The global economic integration that has characterised most of the last half-century is now stalled, if not reversing," the Governor also noted. He said the last few weeks have seen an acceleration in the pace and scale of change. "The sudden shift led to increased financial market volatility across the world, reminding us all of the fact that that global trading systems and global capital flows are two sides of the same coin," he stated. "As a country at Europe's western edge, but at the heart of the European Union, and indeed the euro area, Ireland plays an important role in the global financial ecosystem," he said. "We are a highly globalised economy, with a large outward-focused financial sector. We see significant capital flows through our financial system and we have been closely and carefully analysing daily trade flow data during this period of volatility," he added. Governor Makhlouf said we are facing a new global economic order characterised by trade fragmentation, structural economic shifts, more frequent supply disruptions and policy unpredictability. "Nobody welcomes the geoeconomic fragmentation we are currently experiencing, but I believe it merely serves to accelerate changes that up to recently were more gradual. To a large extent, it brings to a head decisions that, for Europe, had been put off for far too long," he concluded.
RTÉ News
09-05-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Coimisiún na Meán awards Central Bank with 'Trusted Flagger' Status
As concerns continue to grow about the proliferation of financial scams, fraud and illegal content on online platforms, a new step was taken today to protect consumers. The Central Bank of Ireland now has a more visible role in working with Coimisiún na Meán to manage illegal content online through its new status as a "Trusted Flagger". Gabriel Makhlouf, Governor of the Central Bank, said this formal status recognises "what we have been doing and we are going to carry on doing in terms of detecting illegal content, but it gives the staff here a bit more oomph behind them with this recognition." The concept, which is being rolled out across the EU under the Digital Services Act, identifies organisations who can apply to be "Trusted Flaggers". They are then empowered to identify, detect and notify illegal content within their area of expertise to online platforms, and the platforms are legally obliged to respond. The online platforms must ensure that notices of the presence of illegal content, reported by Trusted Flaggers, are given priority and decided upon without undue delay or potentially face penalties. When asked about consumers who have serious concerns about the potential exposure and impact of financial frauds on them, Mr Makhlouf said "It's very serious, and this needs a lot of people working on it." "There are two aspects to this, financial literacy and making sure that the platforms are actually doing their bit to contribute to solving the problem," he said. When questioned about the responsibilities to protect consumers, he said that "regulators have a role a job to do, but I think the platforms have absolutely got a job to do here,". He added that "some of the platforms have shown greater willingness to work with us on this than others." The Governor also said that there is a need to ensure that "the political system understands the challenges here", adding that politicians are "also pushing" the social media companies, and backing the regulators. When Mr Makhlouf was asked about protections and safeguards for worried consumers who are being increasingly urged to use online banking for their day-to-day money management, he said he thinks the protections are there. "There are two things to be honest. Firstly, personal responsibility. You need to protect yourself", he said. "You need to make sure that you follow the rules and if a provider is telling you x or y about authentication, you need to do that," he stated. The second thing consumers need to be aware of, he said is that "scammers are keeping up to speed on all of this, so things are changing," the Central Bank chief said. "You can't say to people that all the ease and facility of online or telephone banking is something that should stop now because of fraud, and that we should all go back to using cash only because people want to live lives that they can live more easily," he stated. "If you think about the gazillions of transactions that happen just fine, it shows that we just need to protect ourselves and maintain focus on it which we as regulators are doing," he added. Mr Makhlouf said that he is however concerned about the development of AI, saying that AI is now making pretty spectacular frauds harder to detect. John Evans, the Digital Services Commissioner, said that Coimisiún na Meán recognises that financial scams and fraud are a concern to the Irish public. He said that with the appointment of the Central Bank as trusted flaggers, the team there now has a direct relationship with the major online platforms. "We are legally obliging online platforms to ensure that any illegal online content reported by the Central Bank of Ireland, such as financial scams and fraud are prioritised by the platform and dealt with in a timely manner", he noted. Mr Evans added that with this announcement today that "we have a well resourced expert regulator and our hope is that the level of online fraud will be reduced as a result of this." The Central Bank have been granted the Trusted Flagger status for three years, and its designated area of expertise is financial scams and fraud, including the provision and/or offer of financial services without authorisation. The appointment of Trusted Flaggers is an ongoing process and they will feed into Coimisiún na Meán's identification of trends and issues via annual reports as well as having "a continuing dialogue" about the issues.
