Allied Irish says goodbye to chairman, chief executive and finance director

by Gill Montia

Story link: Allied Irish says goodbye to chairman, chief executive and finance director

Allied Irish Bank (AIB) will be losing its chairman, chief executive and finance director in the months ahead.

Chairman, Dermot Gleeson, will stand down in July to be succeeded by Dan O’Connor, who joined the board two years ago.

Chief executive, Eugene Sheehy, will retire once a suitable successor has been found and finance director, John O’Donnell, will make his departure in August.

A new position of deputy chairman is being created this month and will be filled by existing board member, David Prichard.

The shake-up follows a statement by the bank earlier this month outlining the need to take further action to strengthen its capital position.

Despite a €3.5 billion government bail out the bank is looking to raise €1.5 billion, partly through the sale of assets.

In March, AIB reported a 62% fall in pre-tax profit for 2008, to €1 billion.

It also warned that bad debt provisions could rise to €4 billion in 2009, bearing in mind the potential for defaults on its property loan book.

Also on the down side, the Republic’s biggest lender recently had its credit rating cut by Moody’s (along with 11 other Irish banks) and its share price has plummeted over 90% in the past 12 months.