Life is still far from entirely rosy at Irish Life & Permanent, but as the only domestic institution to escape any sort of state ownership, it looks a safer bet than most other banks. Should you therefore be considering a move there?

In order to meet the Irish Central Bank’s new capital requirements of 12% core tier 1, Irish Life & Permanent requires a comparatively meagre €98m.

Bank of Ireland, meanwhile, needs to find an additional €2.2bn to avoid a potentially 80% government stake, while AIB needs to raise €5.2bn by February and is well on its way to full state control. IL&P is currently wrangling for control of EBS with private equity firm Cardinal.

Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide, meanwhile, are currently in the process of submitting a joint restructuring plan to the IMF, EU and ECB proposing that they are merged and wound down over time. Clearly, in the long term, these are not good places to be.

IL&P’s unique position is aided by its lack of a commercial loan book, which has dragged down the other Irish banks, but its residential mortgage book within permanent tsb continues weigh heavy. It posted a loss of €10m in for the first half of 2010, with mortgage arrears increasing by 26%, despite a €118m profit in its life business.

Understandably, therefore, from an employment perspective it’s not been all plain sailing. Around 140 staff left through its voluntary redundancy programme in the first quarter of 2010 as it scaled back the number of permanent tsb branches.

But the good news for anyone with aspirations to work for the bancassurer is that it has been indulging in a little under the radar hiring, while other Irish banks have faltered.

“There’s been some reasonably aggressive recruitment within Irish Life Investment Managers, with some key positions filled and an appetite to recruit lower down the ranks,” says one financial services headhunter in Dublin. “They’ve also been recruiting on a contract basis for both accounting and banking positions – typically 6-12 months – whereas this has dropped off in the other Irish banks.”

Recruiters point to roles within its life business, within group functions such as market and credit risk and within its fund administration division. We also understand that it’s been recruiting for technology roles.

However, this is steady rather than aggressively expansionary, suggest recruiters.

“They’re definitely not going hand over fist,” says one headhunter. “But they are recruiting, which is reasonably unique currently.”

Publicly, though, IL&P maintains that it’s being prudent, having pared back expenses by 15% since their peak in 2008 and suggesting that it’s putting in place long-term cost reduction strategies.