9% of staff at AIB are earning €100k or more

The number of high-fliers at the State-owned AIB with pay packages in excess of €100,000 totalled almost 1,100 at the end of last year.

New figures provided by AIB to Finance Minister Michael Noonan disclose that 1,092 people at AIB enjoyed remuneration of over €100,000 in 2014. It represents just over 9% of the bank’s 11,047-strong workforce.

Nine staff members enjoyed remuneration of over €400,000; 13 staff workers were on remuneration of between €300,000 and €400,000; and another 77 were paid between €200,000 and €300,000.

The figures, released to Fianna Fáil’s finance spokesman Michael McGrath in response to parliamentary questions, show that 993 AIB staff members were on remuneration of between €100,000 and €200,000.

The remuneration includes annual salary, non-pensionable allowances, and pension contributions.

The number of staff members on salaries of over €100,000 is significantly lower, with 597 in that bracket. This includes:

• Seven people on salaries over €400,000;
• Three on salaries between €300,000 and €400,000;
• 28 on salaries between €200,000 and €300,000;
• 559 on salaries between €100,000 and €200,000.

Employee numbers at AIB have declined from 13,429 to 11,047 between December 2012 and December 2014.

AIB said it “continues to comply with its remuneration requirements following receipt of Government support”.

Larry Broderick of IBOA, the finance union, said: “The overwhelming majority of employees in AIB earn less than half of the minimum amount quoted in the parliamentary question. Indeed a substantial number earn less than one third of the figure.”

“The last improvement in pay for any of our members in AIB took place in 2009. Since then there have been no increases in rates, no payment of increments, and no payment of performance awards and major changes in the pension scheme.

“At the same time, over 3,000 employees have been made redundant in AIB since the onset of the banking crisis — with many more being outsourced to other companies. Over 70 branches have been closed around the country. At the same time, AIB employees have agreed, albeit reluctantly, to an increase in the standard working week of two hours.

“Through the difficult years since the crisis, the bank’s senior management told our members that pay would return to the bargaining agenda once the bank returned to profit. AIB Group returned to profit in 2014. So our members believe that the time has come for the employer to honour that earlier commitment.”

Separate figures for Permanent TSB show that 160 staff members were on remuneration of over €100,000 at the end of last year:

• Two people were on remuneration of over €400,000;
• Three were on remuneration between €300,000 and €400,000;
• 12 were on remuneration between €200,000 and €300,000;
• 143 were on remuneration between €100,000 and €200,000.

Again, the remuneration includes non-pensionable allowances and pension contributions.

The number of PTSB workers on salaries over €100,000 is significantly lower, with fewer than half of the 160 in that bracket. This includes three members of staff on salaries between €300,000 and €400,000.