Lenders’ legal charges, Boeing documents, and Facebook’s theatre of the absurd

Business Today: the best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

Family members of those who died aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 hold photographs of their loved ones as Dennis Muilenburg (R), President and CEO of the Boeing Company,testifies before US Congress
Family members of those who died aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 hold photographs of their loved ones as Dennis Muilenburg (R), President and CEO of the Boeing Company,testifies before US Congress

Mortgage lenders can no longer impose legal fees and other charges on borrowers in arrears who are co-operating with their bank to resolve the issue. The Central Bank's move comes after an investigation by the regulator concluded that added charges only make it more difficult for borrowers who are in arrears to address the problem.

Cantillon reckons the co-founder of the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation, David Hall, put it succinctly: "When someone is drowning, you don't pour more water in on top of them."

The base salaries of Dublin Bus's female employees are on average 6 per cent higher than they are for male employees, though men still take home an average of 2.3 per cent more money than women when overtime and shift pay rates are included. Laura Slattery reports.

Boeing pushed to limit expensive training for pilots of its 737 Max aircraft, despite acknowledging that a failure of its anti-stall system could be "catastrophic" if they did not respond in 10 seconds, according to new documents released by the US Congress yesterday.

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Irish tax advisory group Taxback.com has scored a landmark victory in Australia against the country's so-called "backpacker tax" – but Irish travellers will not benefit, for now.

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the third time this year in a move to ensure the US economy weathers a global trade war without slipping into a recession, but signaled its rate-cut cycle might be at a pause.

In our technology and innovation coverage, Marie Boran warns of addictive apps that target teens, Charlie Taylor talks to serial tech entrepreneur Annrai O'Toole about his latest venture, and we look at how there's potentially a zettabyte of data up for grabs from the vehicles on our roads.

Finally, as Facebook reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue last night, Karlin Lillington writes that "for the man-child who runs the tech giant, it's been another few weeks of starring in his own special theatre of the absurd."

Michael McAleer

Michael McAleer

Michael McAleer is Motoring Editor, Innovation Editor and an Assistant Business Editor at The Irish Times