NIB will pay the same rate of interest on savings, giving customers much better returns than bank or credit union deposits.

The closely-guarded product line-up, which has been on the drawing board since NIB was bought out by Denmark's Danske Bank last year, also allows borrowers to pay off their mortgages years ahead of schedule, saving thousands of euro in interest.

Bundling all of a customer's different financial products into a single package, so that interest is calculated only on the net exposure to the bank, has worked successfully in other markets. It is commonplace in Danske Bank's home market and has also been used by flamboyant entrepreneur Richard Branson to break into the UK banking market, where he offers a range of products under the Virgin One brand.

The only confirmed product in NIB's new line-up is a discount trading service for customers buying and selling shares in Dublin and a number of overseas stock markets. The online service, aimed at people who do not need investment advice, is expected to substantially undercut commissions charged by existing stockbrokers.

A complete overhaul of NIB's other products is ready to roll once it has been plugged into Danske Bank's high-tech computer platform.

Having invested �?�70m over the last year, the Danes are flipping the switch on NIB's new IT systems this weekend.

The big two Irish banks have been selectively cutting their prices in anticipation of the relaunch of NIB and the stiff competition from Bank of Scotland (Ireland), which is spending �?�160m to build a network of 46 branches around the country.

Another new arrival is Fortis, a Belgian-Dutch banking and insurance group that signed a memorandum of understanding last week with An Post aimed at offering financial services at 1,450 post offices.

So far, competition has focused on current accounts and AIB and Bank of Ireland have been forced to offer free banking to some customers to prevent an exodus to rival banks.

Bank of Scotland has turned up the heat in other areas including savings, loans, credit cards and mortgages.

Rather than competing product-by-product, NIB chief executive Andrew Healy said he wants to compete for customers by rewarding them for transferring all of their banking business to NIB.

The idea is to build on the NIB's existing offset mortgage, which it launched last year. Similar to the current account mortgage sold by First Active, it claims to save customers money by netting off cash in their current and deposit accounts against their mortgages, reducing the balance on which interest is paid.

NIB claims that the offset mortgage could save �?�28,000 in interest and cut four years off the life of a mortgage for a customer who earns �?�54,000 a year and has savings of �?�25,000 and �?�95,000 left to pay on the mortgage.

The potential savings should increase substantially under NIB's new plans because all of a customer's financial relationships, including credit cards and personal loans, will also be thrown into the mix when calculating interest.