Chief executive warns of aggressive wooing tactics, writes Siobhán Creaton, Finance Correspondent

Bank of Scotland Ireland chief executive Mr Mark Duffy has declared its ambition to become the Ryanair of Irish business banking.

He has put the big banks on notice that he will be aggressive, confrontational and take every opportunity to woo their customers as part of a strategy to become the top business bank by 2005.

It is offering a cut-price, no-frills service and plans to cleverly capitalise on the positive sentiment towards the Bank of Scotland brand.

"The banks will rubbish our offering. They will have a feeding frenzy but they will eventually have to match us, just as with the home loans, which will impact on their bottom line," he said.

His rivals have been quick off the mark. One banker described Mr Duffy as the "new Jim Lacey", the colourful former chief executive of National Irish Bank.

Another sought to highlight the terms that may make the offering less attractive to certain customers and was quick to talk about its own market research, which suggested Bank of Scotland's latest wheeze would make little impact.

Bank of Scotland has played a very clever game since it sparked a price war in the mortgage market in 1999. The bank has never given details of how many mortgages it has advanced in the Republic and has been very selective, cherry-picking low-risk business while shying away from first-time buyers.

It got the kudos for introducing competition into the mortgage market and making it cheaper for everyone to finance their home. As a brand-building exercise it was superb and the bank is now aiming to capitalise on its consumer-friendly image to cherry-pick profitable segments of the business sector.

The terms under which customers can benefit from its offering are skewed towards the larger end of the small business sector and only time will tell just how much business it manages to poach from its rivals.

Mr Duffy is confidently predicting that medium-sized businesses will switch the most profitable part of this business to Bank of Scotland Ireland, leaving the more expensive heavy transactions with the Republic's dominant banks.

"The big banks could end up being left with the dross and we will get the goodies," he said yesterday.

He has threatened to make complaints to the Competition Authority, reporting banks that make it difficult for customers to switch part of their business to Bank of Scotland. His bank will run advertisements that highlight its rivals' expensive rates, he said.

The bankers may dismiss this as bluster but Irish customers will be the final arbiter.