AIB has launched a scheme to enable small shareholders to sell their shares back to the bank.
The so-called "odd-lot" offer is open to those with 20 or fewer shares in the lender.
The shares will be bought back at €5.65 which is a 5% premium to the average recent market price.
The plan was approved at the company's AGM in May and was designed to give small shareholders an opportunity to sell their shares without it costing them dealing charges which would typically render such a disposal uneconomic.
AIB currently has a share register which has an unusually large number of small shareholders, mainly because of the Irish Government’s bailout of the bank during the financial crisis.
Large numbers of retail shareholders saw the value of their stakes reduced markedly following the State’s injection of capital into AIB to stabilise it.
Many of them have since hung on to their small number of shares in the hope the share price would recover back to where it was when the bailout occurred.
At present the bank has more than 75,000 shareholders of which almost 69,000 or 89% hold 20 or fewer shares.
But because of the small size of each of their shareholdings, in total these small shareholders own approximately 0.01% of the total number of shares in the bank.
Small shareholders will have until October 7th to apply to opt out of the offer by returning the opt out form.
To participate they need take no action and shares will be purchased.
The bank said cheques will issue to those who do within two weeks of the closing date.
Last week, PTSB launched a similar odd-lot offer for the same reasons as AIB.
