Anglo staff feeling no pressure (or in some cases no desire) to leave

Anglo Irish is facing up to the prospect of transforming into a deposit bank, with its risky loans hived off and wound down in an 'asset recovery bank', so you would have thought the majority of its staff would either fearing redundancy or looking to pastures new.

However, this is not the case - at least for the moment.

One senior Anglo banker tells us that yesterday's announcement has not added any extra pressure on staff to head for the door.

"The feeling is that we have at least another two years before these changes push people to leave the company," he says. "Personally, however, I'm looking to move - while there's no official pressure to do so, it's a very negative working environment currently."

In fact, there's still a distinct lack of clarity around Anglo's future. Firstly, confirmation of how much the bank will eventually cost Irish tax payers is unlikely to emerge before the beginning of October. Secondly, the timescale of the wind-down is still in flux, with finance minister Brian Lenihan only saying yesterday that it was "difficult to see it going beyond 15 years".

One financial services recruiter who works with Anglo Irish - as well as looking to recruit candidates from the bank - says there's been little indication of an exodus.

Including the 262 people made redundant at Anglo in November, headcount has shrunk by 393 since March 2009. The result of these departures is that a number of the remaining employees have been handed promotions or gained extra responsibility, which is creating a new sense of loyalty, suggests the recruiter.

"The other domestic institutions have not been doing this, so many Anglo staff are relishing the new opportunities," he says. "I've attempted to recruit a number of Anglo employees - even to the point of getting them offers at other banks - but the majority have opted to remain there."

Of course, there could be a simpler explanation for the lack of Anglo exits - a lack of opportunities elsewhere combined with a desire to wait for redundancy in order to receive severance pay.

"The banking recruitment market in Ireland is still depressed, so most people who have jobs are choosing to remain in them," says Louise Campbell, managing director of Robert Walters in Ireland.