Central Bank of Ireland

• Interactive Brokers Group (Nasdaq: IBKR), a leading global brokerage firm, today announced the consolidation of its European brokerage operations, with Interactive Brokers Central Europe (“IBCE”), based in Budapest Hungary, merging its client base and operations into the operations of Interactive Brokers Ireland (“IBIE”).
• The Group expects the merger of its European operations to produce measurable improvements in efficiency, while retaining its key talent pool and regional client focus.
• Since commencing business following Brexit, these two operations have delivered and supported significant client growth as Interactive Brokers Group expands its presence across Europe.
• Founded over 45 years ago, Interactive Brokers Group has grown to become one of the preeminent securities firms in the world, with over $12 billion in equity capital and $30 billion of market capital.

• In addition, Kraken has also successfully registered with the Bank of Spain as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP).
• The EMI license, granted to Kraken’s subsidiary in Ireland, enables Kraken to expand its EUR fiat services in partnership with European banks.
• This extends to clients in the 27 European Union (EU) member states and European Economic Area (EEA) countries – a key growth region for the company.
• In the last year Kraken has launched its NFT marketplace, the Kraken Pro advanced trading interface, and a new consumer web user experience.

• It also marks the first HKSFC-authorized(1) Asia ex-Japan-focused food and nutrition thematic ESG fund.
• The Fund is managed by lead portfolio manager Norman Ho, Senior Investment Director, and co-managed with Lilian Cao, Investment Director.
• Frank Tsui, Managing Director and Head of ESG Investment at Value Partners Group, said, "The launch of the Fund marks a major milestone of Value Partner' ESG franchise to leverage our robust proprietary ESG rating system to enhance and promote ESG practices in the region.
• (3) The Fund is a sub-fund of Value Partners Ireland Fund ICAV (the "Company").

• The governor of the Central Bank of Ireland has already said another increase next month is “probable”.
• This is supposed to control rising prices by curbing demand for goods and services.
• Even more worryingly, a recent trend in the inflation figures for the UK and Ireland indicates these high prices may have become embedded in both economies.
• This means that, rather than quickly falling back to “normal” levels, recent high price levels might become permanent.

Inflation pressures

• But while this headline inflation rate has fallen back somewhat, consumer prices are still rising well above the ECB’s 2% inflation target.
• In addition to this headline rate, economists and central bankers often look at what’s called the “core” inflation rate.
• This is a measure of price inflation that excludes items that tend to see the most price volatility each month.

Core versus headline rates of inflation

• When inflation is low, stable and close to the central bank’s 2% target, this core rate doesn’t tend to get much attention.
• But since inflation began to rise significantly during 2021, interest in core inflation has grown because the figure strips out the noise of fast-changing costs such as energy.
• This puts Ireland’s core rate above its headline rate for the first time in more than two years.
• But these items are not included in calculations for the core rate of inflation, which explains why Ireland’s headline rate has fallen below its core rate.

UK inflation

• The UK has experienced even higher inflation in food and non-alcoholic beverage prices than Ireland, seeing a staggering 19% annual rise in early 2023.
• The UK’s headline rate of inflation remains about 1.5%-2% above the core rate – but it is moving in the same direction as Ireland, so could yet be overtaken by the core rate.
• Since central banks use inflation figures to set their interest rates, this means people in both the UK and Ireland could see things like mortgage payments continue to increase, further fuelling the cost of living crisis.