The Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) plans to hire an actuarial adviser ahead of talks with Bank of Ireland on a review of its defined-benefit pension scheme which has liabilities of more than €3.5bn. Staff were told last week there were issues with the fund.

Talks between the two sides are scheduled to begin the week after next. The Bank of Ireland defined benefit scheme has a deficit of €1.5bn and liabilities of €3.55bn.

It is understood that the IBOA's position is that the bank should not close the scheme or seek extra contributions from staff. The union also wants to discuss the bank's future, job security and the restructuring plan it submitted to the European Commission last September as part of the talks.

Bank of Ireland closed off its defined-benefit scheme to new members in 2006, sparking a bitter row with the IBOA. The union eventually agreed to the introduction of a hybrid pension scheme for new employees.

The bank said it has not yet put forward any proposals to the IBOA to address the deficit and said there was no single solution to address the funding situation.

Given the bank will need a further capital injection once its toxic debt goes to Nama, it is unlikely it will be able make to a once-off payment to the pension scheme to plug the gap.

The hybrid pension scheme was highly controversial when the bank announced it. Under the scheme, staff pay 2.5% of their salaries to a fund, which the bank guarantees against poor investment performance.

The employee uses the fund to purchase retirement benefits. The bank also has a defined contribution scheme that matches employee contributions up to 3% of their salary.