Ailing Bristol & West faces the axe

BRISTOL & WEST (B&W), the underperforming former building society taken over by Bank of Ireland in 1997, is in the firing line after chief executive Brian Goggin pledged a crackdown on costs yesterday.

Mr Goggin said a decision would be taken on B&W before the end of March and that all options would be explored.

Its business consists of a call centre-based mortgage sales operation and a 96-strong branch network, which functions mainly as a deposit gatherer.