Mars Capital ready to take off, restructuring at Mastercard and Paddy Power backs punters

Mars Capital, one of the biggest foreign buyers of Irish mortgages in the aftermath of the financial crisis, is bringing its loan portfolio in-house as it gets ready to ramp up its Irish based debt service capabilities, having signed its first customer, writes Fiona Reddan. The move follows the acquisition of the Irish fund by UK debt servicer Arrow Global last year.

Mastercard has announced a major restructuring that directly impacts its fintech-focused research and development centre in Ireland, which employs more than 200 people. However, it is believed there will be no job losses as a result of the move. Charlie Taylor reports.

Paddy Power Betfair will spend more than ¤20 million extra in 2018 to win back punters lost as it worked through the merger that formed the group over the last two years, reports Barry O'Halloran.

With International Women's Day in mind Fiona Alston picks just a small handful of thefinest Irish female innovators shaping the island's future.

EU could speed up funding for Ireland in hard Brexit, commissioner says

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Amazon assistant Alexa not yet a domestic goddess

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Coca-Cola seeks sweet new revenues with fridge full of product launches

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Paddy Power Betfair to spend €20m extra to win back punters

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On the same topic, less than half of Irish women believe their employers are doing enough to improve gender diversity, according to a survey by professional services firm PwC. Eoin Burke Kennedy has the details.

To the list of things once taken for granted but now threatened by Brexit, add "free movement of horses". On the Inside Business podcast, produced in association with Irish Life, Ciarán Hancock talks to Ian Renton, managing director of the Cheltenham Festival which takes place next week. After a spell of declining numbers, the Irish contingent at Cheltenham is once again on the rise. But will the threat posed by Brexit pull on the reins of future growth?

In her column Karlin Lillington wonders whether it will all be worth it for those cities vying to house Amazon's new HQ.

Coca-Cola seeks sweet new revenues with fridge full of product launches, writes Laura Slattery.

Ciara O'Brien let Alexa have the run of her house. Find out how she got on.

Chris Horn gets to grip with the General Data Protection Regulation which will have a major impact on our digital lives.

Our resident sage Cantillon ponders the Pilgrim's Progress of our broadband strategy and wonders where our multinational tax strategy will end up.

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