Anglo Irish Bank has just released its interim results for the first half of this year and they’re not pretty – posting a huge loss of €8.2bn as loan impairments and NAMA loan transfers continue to weigh heavy.

This follows the €12.7bn deficit for the 15 month period to December last year – the biggest corporate loss in Ireland’s history. So where does this leave Anglo?

Amid growing calls for the bank to be wound down over four to five years, Anglo has used its interim report to reiterate the case for splitting into a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bank, which would see 80% of the existing entity wound down.

But with just 20% of the bank left standing, this option is still likely to see some brutal job cuts in the future.

Despite the redundancy programme announced in November last year, which saw 262 people leave the bank, headcount hasn’t reduced dramatically.

In total, 393 people have departed since March 2009 (the remainder exiting through natural attrition) with current employee numbers standing at 1,360, including 92 in its NAMA unit.

The bank’s fate currently lies in the hands of the European Commission, which is set to make a final decision on how Anglo will be restructured in September.

The options on the table are liquidation of the bank over 12 months, a gradual wind-down over 10 or 20 years, further stabilisation and continuation of the bank, or splitting Anglo into a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bank.

The bank is keen to ensure its own survival, but wants to minimise any further drain on the state’s coffers, which is why the latter option is preferred.

“The new bank would adopt a conservative, liability led business model, de-risking away from property and re-balancing towards commercial banking,” said Mike Aynsley, Anglo’s group chief executive.

The benefits of this would be that Anglo remains a viable entity, which would allow it to repay some of the government capital injection, as well as maintaining competition in the Irish banking landscape after the exit of some international players, it says.