Rollercoaster ride for B of I

Forget politics . . . a week is proving an extraordinarily long time on the stock exchange as far as Bank of Ireland is concerned. The revelation this day last week that Bank of Ireland was looking to seal a deal with the former British building society and fifth largest mortgage lender in the UK, Alliance & Leicester, sent the shares in both companies soaring. However, once the initial euphoria died down, questions began to emerge and the absence of satisfactory answers has seen both companies' stock slip back - in Bank of Ireland's case to a price below that immediately prior to the news breaking.

It appears the bank has a job to do to convince its institutional investors that the deal is right for them. No-one denies the need for Bank of Ireland to expand beyond the State, where an unhealthy proportion of its business is presently concentrated. Whether moving into the sluggish and highly competitive British market on this scale is the answer, is an issue which divides analysts.

Another cause for concern is the management structure which appears to have ceded the top job to the head of Alliance & Leicester, Peter White. Many do not see the logic of Bank of Ireland, with its more experienced management handing over this post.

Of course, it cannot be ignored that Irish fund managers and institutional investors are already buffeted by the undue influence on the stock exchange of a stock traded largely outside the jurisdiction. Elan, which accounts for 12 per cent of the market, is traded almost universally in the more volatile Nasdaq market. They are not likely to be overjoyed at the State's second largest bank and second largest market constituent - at almost 16 per cent of the index - looking to Britain for its future growth.