Group open to merger of bank division with EBS

IRISH Life & Permanent (IL&P) has said it remains open to the idea of forming some kind of merger between its banking division and the EBS Building Society even if as expected it loses out in the race to acquire the latter business.

While the EBS sale process hasn’t been completed, IL&P’s rival bidder, the consortium led by Dublin-based company Cardinal Asset Management and backed by US billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, is in pole position.

Speaking at the presentation of IL&P’s annual results yesterday, group chief executive Kevin Murphy conceded the group hadn’t been successful in its pursuit of the EBS, but said that management was keeping “open-minded” on the matter.