IRISH NATIONWIDE has submitted its restructuring plan to the Department of Finance which, in turn, will seek approval from the European Commission for the viability plan.
It is understood that the document was forwarded to Brussels last night.
Irish Nationwide is not considered to have a viable future as a standalone entity and the restructuring plan is likely to have focused on the potential for a sale or merger of the business and a timeline for any such deal.
The restructuring plan is central to Irish Nationwide securing approval from the Commission for the Government’s €2.7 billion bailout for the troubled lender, which has brought the institution under state control.
This comprises a €100 million injection for special investment shares in the troubled building society and a promissory note for €2.6 billion, which can be drawn down over a period of 10 to 15 years.
At the end of March, Minister of Fiance Brian Lenihan said his priority was to secure a “swift sale” of Irish Nationwide or its integration with another entity.
One informed source said yesterday that Irish Nationwide was “low on the radar” of the Department of Finance in the overall context of the recapitalisation of Irish banks and stabilisation of the financial system here.
At the time of Minister Lenihan’s announcement, Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P) indicated its interest in acquiring Irish Nationwide, which will be left with a mostly residential loan book of €2 billion once its toxic commercial property loans have been stripped out of the business.
But that process has stalled as IL&P – which owns the Permanent TSB bank – explores a possible link with building society EBS, which is also under state control.
Irish Nationwide and EBS held merger discussions of their own earlier this year but they came to nothing.
Management at Irish Nationwide later said they did not believe that Brussels would approve a merger of two financial institutions in receipt of Government aid.
Irish Nationwide is to transfer €9 billion in commercial property loans to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama). The first tranche of €668 million was moved recently, with a discount of 58 per cent applied by Nama.
Another €500 million will transfer in July with Nama expected to apply a similar haircut.
