Irish investors may soon be able to buy products such as life assurance and avail of other financial services while doing their shopping.

Dunnes Stores is the first Irish retailer to dip its toe into the financial services sector, linking up with Irish Life to sell life assurance, motor and home insurance products to its Value Club members.

The alliance is being run on a trial basis in the Cork region and depending on its success may be rolled out nationwide over the next 12 months. British retailers are now well established players with companies such as Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Virgin, all offering a wide range of options at their high street outlets. It can only be a matter of time before the same services are available to their Irish customers.