Bank of Ireland ups the 速度 in tango with A&L

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 00:00 BST, 24 May 1999

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The 禁止（する）d is striking up. Take your partners, ladies and gentlemen, for the Banking 合併 Quickstep.

First on the 床に打ち倒す today will be Bank of Ireland and its charming partner 同盟 & Leicester. Waiting coyly on the 議長，司会を務めるs dotted around the hall are a number of would-be couples anxiously waiting to see whether they can keep up with the 速度.

Ireland's second largest bank, with a market value of £6.3bn, and the former building society, 価値（がある） about £5.1bn, make an intriguing combination. This morning they will 確認する they are in 前進するd 会談.

Fuller 詳細（に述べる）s will not be out until 交渉s are 完全にするd. With a fair 勝利，勝つd that will take about a fortnight.

Some parts of the 取引，協定 are already （疑いを）晴らす. Rather on the lines of publishing 巨大（な） Reed Elsevier, the two partners will put their 資産s into a jointlyowned 操作／手術 but 保持する their separate 株式市場 引用するs. The combination will be Britain's fifth largest mortgage provider with の近くに on 9pc of the market.

How 最高の，を越す 職業s will be 株d out is also （疑いを）晴らす. Even though Bank of Ireland will own 55pc of the 連合させるd 公正，普通株主権, 長，指導者 (n)役員／(a)執行力のある Maurice Keane will move up to be 非，不，無- (n)役員／(a)執行力のある chairman.

Peter White, who brought 同盟 to market, will be 長，指導者 (n)役員／(a)執行力のある. His 現在の chairman John Windeler will become Keane's 副.

The 提案 makes sense for both parties. Maurice Keane said earlier this month that he was after a 取引，協定 in Britain. His bank's main 資産 over here is the Bristol & West building society, bought for £600m in 1997. No 決定／判定勝ち（する） has yet been made on whether to fully 合併する it with the 同盟 網状組織 and 段階 out the Bristol & West 指名する.

Bank of Ireland has 320 支店s over there so it is 自然に keen to bolt on nearly 500 同盟 支店s in Britain. But there is 限られた／立憲的な overlap so 限られた／立憲的な 範囲 to 削減（する） costs. The 合併 is probably driven more by the wish to diversify income streams.

同盟 floated in the same year that Bank of Ireland became the owner of a UK building society. Since then it has 首尾よく 追加するd 財務省, 保険 and 法人組織の／企業の banking to its 伝統的な mortgage 商売／仕事. A link by the waters o f the Liffey will give it その上の income and geographical spread, although a 取引，協定 at home would have 申し込む／申し出d better chances of synergy.

A friendly 合併 will need the support of 75pc of those 投票（する）ing. There is no prospect of anyone else shouldering Bank of Ireland out of the way because 同盟 is 保護するd by 法律 from 敵意を持った 引き継ぎ／買収 until 2002. Part of the impetus for a 取引，協定 seems to have come from White's wish to 安全な・保証する his own bank's 未来 before the 保護 満了する／死ぬs.

Even as the music starts, some are asking whether every step has been 適切に thought out. Much will be made of the fact that 同盟 is the first UK bank to 合併する with a partner in Euroland. There has been 憶測 that banking-保険 連合させるs on the Continent have been looking at the 比較して small Irish players in the market. For Bank of Ireland the 合併 may repel would-be predators.

However its 株 are 貿易（する）d in Dublin in euros. Given that prospects for Europe's newest 通貨 are not 率d 高度に, 同盟 株主s might resent 持つ／拘留するing only 45pc of the 連合させるd 操作／手術 as 英貨の／純銀の 伸び（る）s ground in the foreign 為替市場s against the euro.

Whether it is a quickstep or a jig, it will echo in London. Even with a 連合させるd value of £11.4bn, the new （独立の）存在 will still be small in comparison with the £56bn HSBC and the £47bn Lloyds TSB.

Banks in the UK stayed out of the wave of 合併s that has swept the Continent. 失敗 to do a 取引，協定 was not through want of trying. NatWest once 注目する，もくろむd up Abbey 国家の and Barclays chatted to 基準 Char-tered and Halifax. Barclays has since run into problems, which 王室の Bank of Scotland would love to step in to solve.

A 取引，協定 between those two looks more tempting than ever while many are 納得させるd that Lloyds TSB is 始める，決める to go for 保険会社 合法的な & General.

The dance has begun and nobody wants to be the wilting 塀で囲む flower.