Irish Life & Permanent shareholders have formally approved the creation of a new holding company for the group, with 96% in favour of the change.
Earlier, IL&P confirmed that it had begun discussions with the Government on a third banking force.
At the company's extraordinary general meeting chairperson, Gillian Bowler said a third banking force 'has many possible shapes'.
IL&P said the talks on a third banking force involved the five other guaranteed banks and four other foreign-owned banks.
Ms Bowler said setting up the new structure would ensure the company was 'primed to consider and act on appropriate opportunities'. It is understood that the move would allow Irish Life & Permanent spin off its bank Permanent TSB into a third banking force.
But Ms Bowler said it would be inappropriate to give specific guidance what may unfold in the coming months.
She told the meeting the current structure of the group was 'inflexible', and that to compete in a changing banking world that set-up needed to change.
Ms Bowler also said IL&P was 'not out of the woods yet', but was making good progress towards stabilising its operations, protecting the interests of its shareholders, and rebuilding its business.
The group also said it was planning to issue a bond worth up to $2 billion early next year, which would make it among the first banks to raise funds under the Government's revised guarantee scheme.
Bowler sees more 'interventionist' regulation
Answering a shareholder's question about the role of the Financial Regulator within IL&P, Ms Bowler said that regulation was changing dramatically, and she expected the relationship between Irish-owned banks and the regulator to become a lot more 'interventionist', which she said would be a good thing.
She said progress was being made in relation to recovering debt from investments made in Icelandic banks.
A spokesperson for IlL&P later said that the group had sold on its debts linked to Iceland, realising about 16-17% of its loss. The total of the debt was €92m, but it was sold for €15m to a third party.
IL&P also said it had reduced its dependence on ECB funding from €12 billion to €7 billion.
Asked about the resumption of dividends for shareholders, Ms Bowler said this was a priority and would happen 'as soon as it is practical to do so'. She said that under the terms of the government guarantee on deposits until September 2010, covered banks are precluded from paying a dividend.
