Anglo getting ready to pick new name

ANGLO IRISH Bank has chosen new names including IBRC and Irish Resolution Funding Corporation for four subsidiaries, leading to expectation that it is set to unveil the new name for the bank.

The bank was engaged in name-changing activity at the start of this month in advance of its anticipated merger with Irish Nationwide Building Society next month.

Anglo lodged change-of-name documents at the Companies Registration Office on June 1st, renaming Nafplio, a subsidiary of the bank, as IBRC, and changing the name of another firm, Anglo Irish Funding 1, to Irish Resolution Funding Corporation.

Two other firms were renamed IRC Funding and RCBI from Anglo Irish Funding 2 and Anglo Irish Funding 3, respectively.

Only IBRC has a registered address at Anglo’s new head office on Burlington Road in Dublin.

The other three companies are based at the former head office on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin.

A spokesman for the bank had no comment ahead of the bank’s new name being announced.

It’s not yet clear what RCBI or IBRC stands for, but the timing of the changes and the links between the companies suggest the latter may be an acronym for Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, and the former a variation of this.

The directors of the four firms are Anglo chief executive Mike Aynsley, acting chief financial officer Jim Bradley and the bank’s company secretary Max Barrett.

The names are similar to that of a US company established to fund the rundown of troubled or failed banks.

Resolution Funding Corporation is a US government company that provides funds to the Resolution Trust Corporation, which was set up to bail out banks.

The rumps of Anglo and Irish Nationwide remaining after the transfer of €44 billion of loans to the National Asset Management Agency are being merged to be run down as a single bank over a period of up to 10 years.

The word “resolution” is synonymous with bank wind-downs.

The Government published legislation in the Dáil last month – the Central Bank and Credit Institutions (Resolution) (No 2) Bill – setting up what is known as a special resolution regime for troubled or failed financial institutions.

Anglo has said the bank would be renamed once the merger process with Irish Nationwide was completed.

The process of joining the two entities is expected to begin next month.

Anglo removed the signs and branding from its Irish offices in a co-ordinated action in April.

Irish Nationwide removed the last signs from the building society’s branches last week, including the sign on its landmark building at O’Connell Bridge in Dublin city centre.

At the removal of the Anglo signs, Mr Aynsley said consigning the signage “to history” should help the public understand that the old Anglo was gone.