Déjà vu as Irish Life returns to pole position

Since the credit crunch, not too many Irish-owned financial institutions have reported such healthy figures as this life and pensions company, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

If an Irish Life policyholder went to bed, in 1990 and only woke up, last week, he would notice that little appeared to have changed at the company in the intervening period.

Of course, he would be wrong. In 1991, the company floated on the stock market before joining forces with Irish Permanent, some years later, to become a major force in the bank assurance world.