Rumours of CIBC's Irish interest are just that

The rumours are back. The Irish Independent is reporting today that "Allied Irish Banks, which needs to raise billions of euro to bolster its capital reserves over the next few years, is continuing to be circled by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, according to sources."

Sound familiar? The Irish media began reporting in August that CIBC was a suitor for Allied Irish. But while CIBC executives met with the beleaguered Irish lender, the talks never gained serious traction.

This time around the report says that it's believed CIBC is now more interested in Allied Irish's 24 per cent stake in M&T Bank Corp., a lender in the U.S. east coast area.

That seems unlikely. CIBC doesn't have any significant operations in the U.S. Chief executive Gerry McCaughey handed the bulk of the bank's U.S. investment operations to Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. in 2007, making Canadian consumer and business lending CIBC's main priority.

That's not to say he wouldn't consider other options, but few CIBC-watchers expect these rumours to amount to anything in this environment.