urrent Account is always amused when it hears Irish banks dismissing overseas competition as no threat to their hegemony of the domestic market. On Northern Rock's incursion into the savings market with what most independent (our emphasis) analysts agree is a very good product, a spokesman for AIB was quoted as stating: "We're not concerned . . . we're unimpressed with the product offering at a time when people can get between 4 and 5 per cent on fixed-term deposits in Ireland."

Maybe this AIB spokesman hadn't read about the Northern Rock savings product which offers 5 per cent on a demand deposit account - a totally different animal from the fixed-term products which lock away customers' money for months in return for a similar interest rate.

The same sort of guff was stated about Bank of Scotland's arrival in the Irish mortgage market a couple of months ago, a move that was instrumental in bringing about our current historically low mortgage rates.

But maybe the AIB spokesman was a bit blase because his operation is not a major target for the Northern Rock move. The institutions with most to fear are EBS, Irish Nationwide and An Post.

It remains to be seen whether the three-day wait on withdrawals from the Northern Rock savings account will put off potential savers. But if savers who want immediate access to their money are willing to put up with that inconvenience, the 4 per cent on offer from Northern Rock is very attractive.