| Updated:
IL&P buys Northern Rock assets
Irish Life & Permanent’s banking unit has agreed a deal to acquire the €650m (£575.8m) Irish deposit book of UK lender Northern Rock as it seeks to improve its stretched funding position and ensure a standalone future for the bank. The bancassurer, which has been effectively nationalised in the face of a €4bn capital hole, did not detail the cost of the acquisition yesterday. The Irish assets accounted for less than five per cent of Northern Rock’s total deposits.