Shareholders vent their anger at board members

High farce and drama unfolded at Bank of Ireland’s AGM yesterday as shareholders rounded on the board for the collapse in the bank’s share price over the past few years as well as billions in losses.

At one stage two shareholders threatened to take their differences outside for a bout of fisticuffs. In the end peace broke out between the two parties and hostilities were once again directed at beleaguered board members.

Chairman Archie Kane and chief executive Richie Boucher were the two obvious targets, although the Government’s public interest director — former Fianna Fáil minister Joe Walsh — also shipped a fair amount of abuse.

Executive pay was the main source of grievance. A number of shareholders asked senior executives to take voluntary pay cuts. These requests were politely declined.

Another disgruntled shareholder, who said he was Jesuit-educated, apologised to all ladies present before proclaiming: “Fuck you Richie Boucher, fuck you Bank of Ireland and fuck you the coalition Government.”

The most vocal of the restive shareholders was independent TD Shane Ross. He queried Mr Kane’s suitability for the position in view of the Scotsman’s tenure as head of insurance at the troubled British bank Lloyd’s, which was rescued by the UK government at a cost of billions to the taxpayer.

Mr Kane said he was put through a rigorous fitness and probity test by the Central Bank of Ireland and the UK’s Financial Services Authority at the time of his appointment and successfully came through both probes.

Mr Ross also questioned the recent Bank of Ireland appointment of Irish Banking Federation president, Pat Farrell, as its new head of corporate communications. He queried whether there had been a thorough selection process and whether Mr Farrell was a personal friend of Mr Boucher.

Mr Kane said an international consultancy firm had been engaged to fill this post. Moreover, Mr Boucher and Mr Farrell had nothing more than a professional relationship, he added.

A much more acrimonious exchange ensued between shareholder, Peter Curran, and Mr Boucher. Mr Curran questioned the circumstances and the terms of the sale of a Bank of Ireland subsidiary, Bank of Ireland Trust Services, to a company controlled by Harry Cassidy called ARF Management. Mr Cassidy was a former Bank of Ireland employee and is currently the subject of an ongoing inquiry following the demise of Custom House Capital.

Mr Boucher strongly rejected any allegation there was anything untoward about this transaction.

Another shareholder, Dermot Carroll demanded that Bank of Ireland hand back the former Irish Parliament building on College Green for a term of 7bn years at a peppercorn rent of €1 per year. The suggestion was gently rebuffed. Mr Carroll was one of the protagonists in the near altercation.

Other objectors included William Maguire from the Irish Republican Brotherhood, who claimed that Bank of Ireland’s licence is invalid because the Central Bank is unconstitutional.