Introduction to Financial Services Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Introduction to Financial Services - Essay Example The latter two correspond to its lines of businesses for individuals and for corporations. The most recent developments in the company’s operations and prospects include the disposal of its Latvian portfolio of mortgages to SwedBank AB, which occurred in February of 2012; the disposal of its AIB International Financial Services Limited and AIB Jerseytrust operations in 2011; the disposal of its stake in Bank Zachodni to Banco Santander SA in April 2011, comprising 70.4 percent of its total stake in that bank; the disposal of its 50 percent stake in BZ WBK AIB Asset Management likewise in April of 2011; and the acquisition of the EBS Building Society in July of 2011 (Google). It is noteworthy that while many of its activities are concentrated in Ireland, it has substantial presence in the UK, and also some presence in the United States, the latter in the form of CICB banking services on offer to corporations in the US, as well as in the UK. Moreover, it has a business segment f ocused solely on Northern Ireland and Greater Britain, in the form of its AIB UK business segment. This business segment is registered in the UK, and operates under the name of Allied Irish Bank GB. This business segment operates 28 full branches all over the UK, with regular banking services coupled with corporate and international banking (Reuters). Meanwhile, due to Central Bank mandates for the bank to up its capital base, AIB raised â‚ ¬ 14.8 billion of new capital through the flotation of new shares (AIB). The series of moves tied to this flotation effectively resulted in the Irish government coming to own all but a tiny fraction of all of the ordinary shares at AIB (AIB): On 31 March 2011, the Central Bank published its 'Financial Measures Programme Report', which detailed the outcome of PCAR 2011 and Prudential Liquidity Assessment Review (â€Å"PLAR†) 2011 for certain Irish credit institutions, including AIB and EBS. On this date, the Central Bank stated that it h ad set a new capital target for AIB and EBS, ultimately requiring AIB and EBS to generate a total of â‚ ¬ 14.8 billion of additional capital. This additional capital requirement was satisfied through AIB's placing of â‚ ¬ 5.0 billion of new ordinary shares with the NPRFC, capital contributions totalling â‚ ¬ 6.1 billion from the Minister for Finance and the NPRFC, the issue of â‚ ¬ 1.6 billion of contingent capital notes at par to the Minister (which completed on 27 July 2011), and further burden-sharing measures undertaken with the Group's subordinated debt-holders. Following these actions, the State, through the NPRFC, now owns 99.8% of the ordinary shares of AIB (AIB). II. Financial Performance The company’s ADR is valued at $31.03 billion as of the latest stock market close, with the stock ranging in value from a high of $1.87 and a low of $0.56. The most recent stock price close is at $0.60. Below is a snapshot of the performance of its ADR stock price from S eptember 2011 to the present (Google): Plot source: Google While data on the ADR is recent and short-term, data on the five-year financial performance of the bank is available through to 2009 from 2005, hitting the years from 2007 when the global financial crisis hit, but missing out on the past few years data, including the data relevant to its recent flotation of ordinary shares that transferred ownership of most ordinary shares to the Irish governm

Stress management - guided imagery Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Stress management - guided imagery - Assignment Example One very effective way is hardiness. This means becoming stronger both physically and emotionally. Techniques of improving hardiness include doing more physical exercises reducing usage of drugs such as alcohol and nicotine, creating a support system by developing close relations with other people, doing activities that you enjoy among many more. Another effective method is development of a positive attitude towards situation. Healthy eating habits alongside with good nutrition increases not only the physical stamina but also the emotional and perhaps mental stamina (Hoffman et al., 46). Relaxing of both the mind and the body improves even the concentration and can be achieved by gaining enough sleep. Proper time management is another stress management skill that helps one to accomplish things that may otherwise cause stress. Proper cash managent is another strategy that reduces stress for college students. Exploring spirituality is also another common effective way of managing stres s since one finds personal meaning to his life. As a student, I adopted a stress management behavior that has worked out perfectly well. It is a strategy that has an acronym â€Å"HOLDUP†. This stands for Hardiness, Outlook, and Listening to my Body, Decreasing stress as much as I can, unburdening myself and Problem solving. I decided to change my outlook of challenges and took them positively. I developed a sense of humor in my problems and found out that they were not as bad as they seemed. More so, I learnt that making mistakes was inevitable as long as it was accompanied by a lesson in it. There was an added solution to taking responsibility over my own feelings, and this made me control all my stressors. By understanding my outlook, I was able to know my strengths that brought me a lot of confidence and my weaknesses too which were the major channels stress came through. Listening to my body always worked out very well for me. I was