Ulster Bank chairman Sir George Quigley said yesterday that he was hopeful Britain would move into the EMU shortly after the first wave. Its failure to do so, he added, would prevent the rapid acceleration of trade between north and south and business and economic interaction which a single currency would greatly help.

Sir George was speaking following an Ulster Bank board meeting held in Limerick to mark the 800th anniversary of the city obtaining its charter.

He also said that the TSB would be an attractive acquisition for Ulster Bank "at the right price".

He said it would reinforce its current position as a strong third banking force and boost the competitiveness of the financial services sector as a whole.

"Our cultures are compatible.

TSB would be joining a business with an employment record unrivalled in the Irish banking industry," he said.

He hoped the Government would soon indicate whether any change was proposed in the TSB's status.

"This issue has been around for a long time and is ripe for resolution in the interest of all the parties concerned."

Sir George said that "at the right price, we would regard the TSB as an attractive acquisition".

Sir George, who is also a main board director of the National Westminster Bank and of Short Brothers, said that the fact that two currencies existed on the island at the moment and that in any short term in the future we would still have two, with euro and sterling in the event of the Republic moving into the EMU, should not have a major effect on the island. Sir George said that within the next decade the combined output of the developing world would exceed that of the developed. But many of the assets would be owned by the developed world. The chairman addressed 50 leading business people and industrialists in the Shannon region.