AIB is believed to be negotiating with New York-based Atlantic Bank to sell its prestigious branch in New York's Park Avenue, the only remaining retail outlet for an Irish domestic bank in the United States.
Plans to sell the branch to M&T, the Buffalo-based bank that absorbed its Baltimore operation, Allfirst, are understood to have fallen through during the summer.
Asked about the possible purchase of the AIB outlet, Mr Tony Morris, marketing manager of Atlantic Bank, said that it was "something that may eventually come true" but declined to confirm if there was an agreement.
An AIB spokesman also declined to comment but said that AIB's not-for-profit business in the US would not be part of any sale.
An agreement with Atlantic Bank would bring to an end a quarter-century of AIB retail presence in the US dating back to 1977 when Mr Jeremiah Casey opened a full-branch office at 405 Park Avenue. Mr Casey became chairman of First National Bank of Maryland in Baltimore, later called Allfirst Financial, after AIB acquired it outright in March 1989.
M&T Bank completed a $3 billion (€2.67 billion) acquisition of Allfirst earlier this year, creating the 18th-largest bank in the US.
As part of the deal, AIB got a 22.5 per cent stake in M&T and four AIB representatives sit on M&T's board of directors.
M&T originally agreed to buy AIB's branch office at Park Avenue in a separate deal but apparently decided not to proceed earlier in the summer.
Allfirst lost $691.2 million over five years due to losses accumulated by foreign currency trader John Rusnak in 1997-2002.
Atlantic Bank of New York is a full-service commercial bank with more than $3 billion in assets, making it one of the top 20 banks in the New York metropolitan area. It has branches in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Long Island, Westchester, Dutchess, and in Boston.
