Until then, most of the Irish banks were commercially owned entities whose shares were freely quoted on the Irish stock exchange. A large proportion of the shares were held by institutional investors, including pension funds. These institutional investors included many funds registered outside Ireland. In terms of the number of shareholders, these banks had large numbers of smaller personal shareholders. The shares were considered by most shareholders to be blue-chip shares, and so, while there was active daily turnover of shares in the market, many shareholders had held their shares for very long periods.

The share prices of the major Irish banks reached a peak in early 2007, following years of double-digit returns to shareholders. Within less than 20 months from that peak, the shares of AIB and Bank of Ireland had dropped more than 99% from the peak, and shares of Anglo-Irish Bank had been suspended. AIB and Bank of Ireland were re-capitalised by the Irish Government, and Anglo-Irish Bank was nationalized. While the shares have recovered from their low point, the price still remains a fraction of the early 2007 level.

In the turbulent period since 2007, very large numbers of shares have changed hands.

For the larger banks, the following analysis of ownership has been prepared from latest available figures:-

Bank	% of shares held outside Ireland	% of shares held in holdings of 100,000 or more
AIB (as at 31/12/2008	59%	77%
Bank of Ireland (as at 31/03/2009)	37% (see note)	63%

Note re Bank of Ireland. 52% of all Bank of Ireland are classified as “Retail” and no geographical analysis of these shares is shown in the report.

As at November 2009, the Irish government holds a 25% shareholding in each of Allied Irish Bank and is the 100% shareholder in Anglo-Irish Bank

Two retail banks with branch networks, Ulster Bank and National Irish Bank, are subsidiaries of foreign banks.