AIB managed to recover some ground in Dublin yesterday after the heavy losses of the previous two days, triggered by the expectation that AIB will be excluded from the Eurostoxx 50, the index most in use by international fund managers when allocating funds to shares in the euro zone.

The bank's shares jumped 30 cents to €12.80 (£10.08) on the Dublin market as some investors took the view that the sell-off in the past couple of days had been overdone.

At this stage, there is no certainty that AIB will be excluded from the index and indeed the index's compiler has come under criticism for making changes which mean some states, like the Republic, will be excluded.