Online Banking Blog – Financial Information from RaboDirect Ireland

Who are they fooling? It’s not you, is it?

Submitted by Roel van Veggel | General Manager RaboDirect on Tuesday, 16 June 2009 | Category: Savings

Now that the dust around Irish banks seems to have settled a bit, I am amazed to see most of them go back to their old marketing behaviour. In particular, I’m referring to the addiction to and obsession with promotional rates. What’s that all about? I was triggered by several advertisements from one of our competitors recently offering 7% on a current account! Wow, sounds great doesn’t it? But is it really transparent?

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The truth about our rates

Submitted by Roel van Veggel | General Manager RaboDirect on Monday, 6 April 2009 | Category: Savings

Today we had to cut our on demand savings rate again. This in response to the ECB rate changes last week where the most important rate dropped to 1.25%. This rate cut was seen as vital to fight the global economic recession. Good news for most mortgage holders with variable rates, but the flipside of it that saving rates are also coming down.

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Security the new priority for savers?

Submitted by Roel van Veggel | General Manager RaboDirect on Thursday, 2 April 2009 | Category: Savings

Today I was browsing the RTE website and I found an interesting piece on the savings market. Our colleagues at Postbank revealed in their quarterly Savings Index that 54% of Irish savers say security is their prime consideration when choosing a place to save their money.

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How to manage your savings during a banking crisis

Submitted by Roel van Veggel | General Manager RaboDirect on Tuesday, 27 January 2009 | Category: Savings

It's all been happening! In the last few weeks, much has happened with the Irish banks. Anglo Irish is being nationalised. Some banks got downgrades in their credit ratings which means that rating agencies see increased levels of risk associated with these banks...

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A comforting thought in these turbulent times

Submitted by Roel van Veggel | General Manager RaboDirect on Tuesday, 16 December 2008 | Category: Savings

In a time of weakening economic indicators, recapitalisation announcements, declining share prices for banks in Ireland, surely it’s time for some good news! Well at Rabobank anyway. The ratings agency, Moody’s reaffirmed our AAA credit rating on November 28th. This follows on from Standard & Poor’s report on October 28th which also reconfirmed our AAA rating. Moody’s based their decision on the bank’s stable outlook, which solidifies Rabobank’s reputation in international financing as a trustworthy financial institution, despite current market circumstances.

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The €10 Billion Bail Out

Submitted by Roel van Veggel | General Manager RaboDirect on Monday, 15 December 2008 | Category: Savings

The announcement by the Irish government that €10 billion euro is available for recapitalisation of Irish banks makes it very clear that we are in the midst of one of the most severe financial crisis in recent history. The effects of it are spilling over into the real economy. Banks are no longer considered as the powerhouses they once were driving economic growth by lending money to viable businesses against acceptable rates. Confidence between banks and confidence between banks and the customers has been eroded by recent developments.

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Safe Haven in Stormy Weather

Submitted by Roel van Veggel | General Manager RaboDirect on Tuesday, 25 November 2008 | Category: Savings

After a couple of weeks of extreme turbulence in the financial markets and growing uncertainty about the robustness of the financial system at large, I would like to take the opportunity to enlighten you on what all of this means for RaboDirect.