No further board appointments to be made until inquiries end

NO further board or management appointments — including a new chief executive — will be made at Anglo Irish Bank before the conclusion of both the internal and external reviews of the business, which are ongoing.

According to Anglo’s annual report — for the 12 months to the end of September — which was finally published yesterday, two months after its original due date, the decision has been taken to defer the appointment of a new chief executive until the internal business plan and various reviews have been carried out.

Declan Quilligan, the former head of Anglo’s British-based lending division, had been widely tipped as David Drumm’s replacement before the nationalisation of the bank last month.

However, Mr Quilligan has now been made the bank’s chief operating officer — effectively a totally new role at the company.

The title of new chairman, Donal O’Connor, has been expanded to executive chairman, basically making him both chairman and chief executive until a permanent replacement for Mr Drumm has been found.

The bank’s chief financial officer, Matt Moran, has been promoted to the post of director of group finance and a full-time chief risk officer is being hunted, from external sources, to relieve Peter Butler, who is currently handling the position on a temporary basis.

Yesterday’s report suggested that the bank’s management team would be strengthened further by “a number of other external appointments” in the future.

Any new appointments will be joining a bank, which has set aside €914 million to cover bad debts, according to the new report. Former finance minister, Alan Dukes; ex-Revenue chairman, Frank Daly and former Bank of Ireland governor, Maurice Keane have all joined the Anglo board — in non-executive roles — in the past two months.

As well as an internal review, an external probe into affairs at Anglo is ongoing. It is being undertaken by the Irish Stock Exchange, the Financial Regulator and the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE).

Separately, a probe into the actions of Ernst & Young — Anglo’s chief external auditor — by the Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board is close to getting underway.