TRADING HAS RESUMED on Irish bank shares after BOI and AIB shares were temporarily suspended pending yesterday’s publication of the bank stress tests results.

And it’s been a bad day for Irish Life and Permanent.

The bank’s shares, which had taken such a dive earlier in the week that trading was suspended until this morning, have dropped a further 50 per cent.

Yesterday, the lender was ordered to sell of its profitable life assurance and pension businesses after the stress tests revealed it needs €4bn in support to cope with potential losses. IL&P, which is the largest pension payer in Ireland after the state,  had been the only one of Ireland’s main lenders which had not previously sought government support.

AIB shares are also down this morning (by up to 20 per cent) after the Minister for Finance announced it would be merged with EBS to form one of two new banking pillars in a restructured banking system. According to BusinessWorld, both AIB and EBS have welcomed the merger.

However, it’s been a good opening for Bank of Ireland on the market this morning, as the bank’s shares rose by around 25 per cent.