ABBEY: BoI WOULD BE IN CONTROL - Bank of Ireland's approach to the British bank, Abbey National, was confirmed to the stock markets yesterday after news that the governor of Bank of Ireland Laurence Crowley has been having tentative talks with the chairman of Abbey, Lord Burns.
If successful the new entity would be the 12th largest bank in Europe with its headquarters in Dublin and its primary listing in London.
Siobhan Creaton, Finance Correspondent with the Irish Times, says Bank of Ireland has been focused on expanding in the UK for some time.
She says the bank has learned lessons from the collapse of its merger talks with Alliance & Leicester three years ago, giving the markets more details about the proposal this time. The A&L move was hit by concerns over who would run the bank, but Creaton says BoI has made it clear that this would be a takeover with the new bank having its headquarters in Dublin.
She says the markets are losing patience with Abbey National, which has still not found a chief executive. Abbey, she adds, is in no position to resist a takeover approach. Creaton says both banks will be watching their share price today as market reaction to the proposal will be crucial.
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INTEL CHIEF SEES TECH LIGHT - The head of chip maker Intel has been making positive noises on an upturn in the technology industry.
Speaking in Spain at the weekend, Craig Barrett said the current crisis in the industry should run its course by early next year, but he expressed concern that not enough venture capital was going into the tech sector.
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MARKETS - Japanese share prices this morning dived to a 19-year low, with the Nikkei falling 340 points to close at 8,688.
