Bank of Ireland

Ted Scott, director Global Strategy at F&C, says in a note on Moody's decision to downgrade Ireland's sovereign debt that it was the correct one, and serves as a wake up call for Italy.

Ratings agency Moody's has cut the Republic of Ireland's debt rating to junk status.

Ireland’s banking system and its wider economy has attracted a lot of bad press, raising questions about how its recently thriving asset management and fund servicing industry will be affected.

Allied Irish Banks (AIB) is the first of Ireland’s five main banks to dump banking and asset management stakes in a capital raising effort, after it emerged the banks need to find an extra €24bn of funding.