Sheehy denies illegal action claims

AIB’s outgoing chief executive Eugene Sheehy has denied accusations that the bank had acted illegally in allowing its subsidiary, Goodbody Stockbrokers, to trade in its shares overseas before legislation was changed to formally allow it to do so.

However, he conceded the arrangement had not been implemented properly and the practice consequently “shouldn’t have happened”.

Appearing – along with AIB’s regulatory and operational risk manager, Philip Brennan – before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Economic Regulatory Affairs, Mr Sheehy was chiefly defending the practice whereby Goodbody Stockbrokers traded AIB shares to two international funds based in the Isle of Man and the Caribbean island of Nevis in the early part of this decade. This was done so the firm would not lose out on business ahead of legislation, which previously barred it from trading in AIB shares, being changed.