The most interesting question about the proposed Irish Permanent/Irish Life merger is not how it will be structured, or who will be in charge, but what the new entity will be called. Given the Irish in both titles the PricewaterhouseCoopers solution is clearly not a runner, although Irish Life & Permanent must be a runner.

And going for the Diageo route - getting advisers to come up with a new name - would mean losing the brand recognition which is central to the merger plans. What about Permanent Life? Sounds a bit biblical. Another route would be to use the initials. ILP is a packaging company, leaving IPL as a possibility. Which has a certain ring to it.