THE disclosure that six members of staff at the former Anglo Irish Bank are on packages of €500k-plus could not come at a worse time for the Government or IBRC.

It is believed that Bank of Ireland will not be following AIB’s lead and writing to former executives asking them to surrender part of their pensions.

The Irish Red Cross has helped more than 40 Cork households affected by last month’s massive flood.

THE Irish Red Cross has admitted its vice-chairman was one of two signatories at the centre of a controversy surrounding an undisclosed bank account containing €160,000 in donations.

HOUSEHOLDERS living in flood-damaged buildings yesterday began receiving payments from the Irish Red Cross humanitarian fund.

AIB last night published its group annual financial report for 2010 which confirmed it made a loss after tax of €10.4 billion on continuing operations.

THERE’s been little or no change in the top management of the country’s banks in return for the “largesse of the taxpayer”, according to the Labour Party leader, Eamon Gilmore.

THE arbitrary remuneration limit of €500,000 on the top job at AIB will make it very difficult for the group to attract somebody from outside the bank, according to Oliver Gilvarry, head of research at Dolmen Securities.

EXPERTS yesterday said it was too early to say what sanctions, if any, face AIB and Goodbody following Mr McErlean claims that he raised with the Financial Regulator the fact that Goodbody had arranged for all of its purchases of AIB shares for clients to go through what he believed was an illegal process.

AIB yesterday reiterated its claim that it is not in need of rescue capital from the Government or private equity houses.

SENIOR bank officials will appear before a Dáil committee today to explain to small businesses why successive interest rate cuts have not improved the availability of loans.

AN Oireachtas committee will hire a banking expert to advise it on how best to grill the bosses of the country’s senior banks about their role in the financial crisis.

SENIOR executives from the leading banks told an Oireachtas committee in July that they were “robust and stable”.

THE bosses of the country’s biggest banks may be summoned before an Oireachtas committee in September to answer questions about their financial health and lending practices.

Four of the country’s biggest banks united today to stress that business remained open as usual despite the economic slowdown.

AIB and Enterprise Ireland are to contribute €15 million each to a new fund to invest in growing businesses.

AN Irish Examiner photographer was honoured at a gala dinner in Dublin last night after he picked up a top prize at the AIB Irish Press Photographers Association Awards.

THE white flag finally went up at AIB’s life and pensions subsidiary yesterday as the bank offloaded its struggling Ark Life business to Hibernian, one of the unit’s biggest rivals.

Allied Irish Banks, today announced that it has agreed the terms of a joint venture with Aviva plc for the manufacture and distribution of life and pensions products in the Republic of Ireland.

Ian Guider

A SENIOR AIB executive, who alleged he was being made the scapegoat for the bank’s overcharging scandals, will resign following an out-of-court settlement.

ALLIED Irish Banks lawyers told the High Court yesterday that senior bank executives strongly refute allegations by another executive, Séamus Sheerin, that he is being scapegoated for the failures of others in connection with the foreign exchange overcharging scandal in the bank.

Ray Ryan

AIB today announced that it is taking a 30% stake in Vivas Health, a new privately-owned health insurance company, which plans to launch immediately.

PRESSURE is mounting on the three top figures in AIB to appear before a Dáil committee investigating the financial scandals that have gripped the country’s biggest bank.

IN a previous incarnation, I worked briefly with AIB’s managing director in Ireland, Donal Forde. He’s the man who has been taking the public flak over the latest AIB fiasco, the accidental ripping-off of their foreign exchange customers.

The managing director of AIB , Donal Forde, has said its senior mangement team was never briefed on a software problem that caused the overcharging of some of its foreign exchange customers.

TAOISEACH BERTIE AHERN lauded the progress and development of ladies football when he launched the 2004 Suzuki NFL in Croke Park yesterday.

BANK of Scotland Irish boss Mark Duffy has reacted angrily to the assault on the company by the Irish Bankers Federation and others in the banking sector.

THE main financial institutions, including AIB and Bank of Ireland, have finally reacted to pressure from politicians, businesses and customers by dropping their mortgage interest rates.

LIMERICK footballer John Quane will replace Kerry captain Darragh Ó Sé, on the Vodafone Allstars visit to San Diego this week.

AIB has become the first Irish bank to offer interest to business customers who maintain a credit balance in their current account provided the company commits to banking online.