Members of the Irish Nationwide building society will be asked on Monday to vote on a motion that will officially back the society's intention to shed its mutual status, which could ultimately trigger a financial windfall.
The meeting will be held at the RDS in Dublin and will begin at 2.30 p.m. One of the society's members, Mr Brendan Burgess, has put himself forward as a candidate to become a director of Irish Nationwide and has been seeking support for his election.
He wants to unseat Irish Nationwide chairman Mr Michael Walsh, who is also standing for election to its board of directors.
The society is awaiting new legislation that would clear the way for it to demutualise. The Department of the Environment has said that the legislation could be adopted by the end of May or early June.
Irish Nationwide chief executive Mr Michael Fingleton has said that its members will have to wait for a buyer to emerge to realise a cash windfall.
Irish Nationwide customers who hold qualifying deposit and mortgage accounts would benefit from the demutualisation, with analysts suggesting they could be in line to yield €6,000-€8,000 on each account.
Thousands of new accounts have been opened at the society in the past two years as new customers hoped to qualify for a cash windfall. The society has raised the minimum amount required to open a qualifying savings account to €20,000. Mortgage holders must have a minimum balance of €500 in their account to benefit.
Mr Burgess will put a motion to members calling on the Irish Nationwide board to notify the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority of its intention to convert to a company before December 31st, 2004.
