The Irish Permanent has formed a joint venture company with Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) to provide a range of financial services to NIE's customers. NIE has 650,000 customers and both companies say this is the potential market for the range of financial products which will be offered throughout the year.

Revenue from the company, NIE Direct, will be divided equally between the Irish Permanent and NIE. The new company does not intend to operate the services on an over-the-counter basis, but will encourage customers to transact their business by phone or mail.

At a later stage customers may be able to use NIE's network of ShopElectric shops to transact business with NIE Direct.

The decision not to offer over-the-counter services means costs will be significantly reduced, according to both companies.

The processing involved in the various services will be handled by the Irish Permanent's British subsidiary, Capital Home Loans.