Merrion Capital, the financial services group formed by the NCB "group of seven" has not yet spoken to an outside investor, but any outside investor will receive "well under 50 per cent" of the equity, chief executive Mr John Conroy stated.

Virtually every international financial house was being mentioned as a potential investor in Merrion, including Nationsbank Montgomery, Dresdner, Commerzbank, BT Alex Brown and, intriguingly, IIU - the investment vehicle of NCB's former majority shareholder Mr Dermot Desmond.

All Mr Conroy would say is: "We haven't spoken to anybody yet but I don't believe we will have difficulty finding an investor given the calibre of people we have. We can finance this without a third party, the principals will inject capital and we will talk to outside investors who will provide business link-ups as well as cash. We believe there will be a quick payback for this business and by the beginning of 2000 we will be making waves in the market place."

Mr Conroy said that Merrion will be seeking a licence to operate as a stockbroker and aims to provide institutional and retail broking services.

"The retail market is growing rapidly with wider share ownership, low interest rates, increased investor sophistication, privatisation and tax changes. There is a growing US-style culture,"

Merrion will also offer asset and portfolio management for high net worth individuals as well as corporate finance services. "Investment options for high net worth individuals are limited and we aim to expand those options by offering institutional-style portfolio management supported by research," said Mr Conroy.

Merrion will also aim to capitalise on the financing needs of Irish high technology companies who have tended to look abroad for capital.

"There are opportunities in pre-IPO finance, over $100 million of this was raised in Ireland last year and we would plan to set up a pre-IPO fund as a magnet for these local companies." The group also plans to provide services for public-private partnerships who are involved in major infrastructure projects, he added.

Asked what would be different about Merrion, Mr Connell said that on the asset management side, Merrion would provide a more research-driven service for high net worth investors and added that his contacts with senior business executives showed that the high net worth market was not currently being well served. "We will tailor products specifically for individuals like entrepreneurs in high-technology companies, for example," he said.

Mr Connell said that there are up to 30,000 people who would qualify as high net worth individuals - those with net assets of £1 million-plus. "Now, a person like this goes to his bank and is put into unit-linked funds, we would plan to offer a more tailored service".