Boon for AIB with sale of Allfirst

AIB BANK is expected to go on a share buy-back spree when it gets more that €900 million in cash following the approval of the sale of troubled subsidiary Allfirst to M&T Bank by the US Federal Reserve.

The disposal of Allfirst was an inevitable fall-out from the Rusnak rouge trader disaster which exposed serious short comings in the bank’s internal security arrangements.

Rusnak’s success in hiding trading losses of 691 million over a five-year period hit confidence in AIB’s operations and its sale was expected sooner rather than later.