National Irish ‘may be put on market’
Directors at National Australia Bank (NAB) began a two-day board meeting in Melbourne last night amid speculation in the Australian media that NIB, together with sister operation Northern Bank in Northern Ireland, would be put up for sale in a €1.2 billion deal after the publication of the High Court report into NIB last week.
Irish Bank Officials’ Association (IBOA) president Larry Broderick said there was a “high level of insecurity and uncertainty” among staff at the banks in the wake of the report. But he added the union had been given assurances from NAB chief executive John Stewart in February that NIB and Northern would remain within the NAB stable and that he would be “extremely disappointed” if that position had changed. Mr Broderick planned to meet NAB’s European chief Ross Pinney, who was understood to be attending the Melbourne meeting, before the end of next week.
