IRISH NATIONWIDE is planning to overhaul its management structure in preparation for a sale or merger of the rump of the building society after it transfers €9 billion in loans to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).

The building society’s chief executive Gerry McGinn is preparing to fill three new roles on a revamped management team reporting to him and chief financial officer John McGloughlin.

Irish Nationwide plans to appoint existing managers at the building society to roles overseeing banking, operations and “people, communication and change” as the lender awaits EU approval for its restructuring plan.

They will make up a new executive committee to manage a sale or merger after the transfer of about 80 per cent of its loans to Nama.

Irish Nationwide will be left with a residential mortgage book of about €2 billion and a deposit book of almost €5 billion following the Nama transfers, making it attractive to potential suitors.

The Government intends to sell or merge the society after it took effective control last April with a capital injection into the lender.

Some €100 million of taxpayers’ funds has been pumped into the building society by the Government, which has also committed capital of €2.6 billion by way of a promissory note or an IOU.

Irish Nationwide submitted a restructuring plan to the European Commission last month through the Department of Finance.

The plan had to be filed under state aid rules as a condition of its recapitalisation by the State.

Under the plan, the building society assessed the cost and viability of an immediate closure, a 10-year wind-down and a sale or merger, which the society has said is its preferred choice and the least expensive option for the State.

The society has also outlined its future intention to focus on the savings and mortgage market and to help administer the Nama loans.