Finance Minister to meet senior bank executives
Finance Minister Brian Lenihan meets the heads of six Irish banks today for crunch talks on a rescue package for the crisis-stricken financial sector.
They are expected to discuss an approach this week to the Government by private investors who want a €2bn stake in the banks.
A consortium of Irish and foreign-owned institutions have offered to go in with the State in a joint investment which would inject much-needed cash into the system.
The plan would see the State matching the investment from the private companies in a deal that would pump more than €4bn into the six Irish banks covered by the guarantee scheme.
The chiefs of AIB, Bank of Ireland, Irish Life and Permanent, Anglo Irish Bank, EBS and Irish Nationwide have been handed details of the package.
Mr Lenihan told the Dáil yesterday that he welcomed the approach but insisted that any deal must be in the interests of the public.
The co-investment plan is one of a number of options open to Government, including approaches from other consortiums as well as nationalisation.
