Anglo and INBS ‘to start talks’ on merging sections

ANGLO Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society will start talks with Government officials this week to decide which parts of the state-controlled lenders may be merged following the country’s bailout, two people with knowledge of the discussions said.

Anglo Irish chief executive officer Mike Aynsley met with Gerry McGinn, his counterpart at Irish Nationwide, to start exploring options last week, said the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are private. The Government has told both companies to devise a plan by the end of January, said the people.

The talks mark the Government’s first step to meeting the pledge it made to shrink the country’s banking industry when it accepted an €85 billion international aid package. Finance Minister Brian Lenihan estimated rescuing both lenders could be as much as €39.7bn.