Nationwide debts bid

IRISH Nationwide has announced plans to buy back £146m (€172m) of subordinated debt at an 80pc discount. This is a slight premium to its current market price.

The offer applies to £126m of bonds due in 2016 and £20m worth of 2018 notes, Irish Nationwide said in a statement.

Bondholders who do not accept the offer by March 18 will be offered a nominal payment of 0.001pc of the bonds' face value.