IBOA calls for major banking reforms

The Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) has called for major reform of the banking sector in the wake of recent scandals at AIB.

In a presentation to the Oireachtas finance committee today, the IBOA said major reform was needed to restore public confidence in the banks.

The IBOA told the committee there was one set of standards for ordinary bank workers and another for senior bank executives and that a culture of putting profit before customer service was the single greatest cause of the overcharging scandals.

It said bank management and not ordinary staff must take responsibility for the scandals.

The IBOA suggested several measures to ensure such scandals do not happen again, including the introduction of a whistle-blowers’ charter, less emphasis on performance-related pay, staff and customer representation on the boards of the banks and a new code of ethics for the banking sector.